LA Galaxy win to advance to MLS Western Conference Semifinals

Friday night at Dick's Sporting Goods Park was the stage for another dominant performance by the Los Angeles Galaxy. After their 5-0 shutout in Game 1, the five-time MLS Champions followed that up nicely with a 4-1 series clincher against the Colorado Rapids.

Head Coach Greg Vanney has his team clicking on all cylinders right now. It only took eight minutes for the LA Galaxy to pick up right where they left off a week ago. Gabriel Pec found the back of the net early.

"We knew they had to win today, and we needed to try to play against that a little bit. At times we went too fast; at times it was fine. But at the end of the day in the playoffs, it doesn't really matter. You get through and you move on to the next round."

- Greg Vanney, LA Galaxy Head Coach

The Rapids responded with a rare playoff goal against the Galaxy. Oliver Larraz answered back at the 19th minute with a score of his own. This tied the game up at 1-1 until stoppage time of the first half.

Defender Maya Yoshida assisted on a great play that saw Joseph Paintsil score from outside the box. The LA Galaxy took a 2-1 lead into second half and never looked back.

Despite scoring earlier in the game, Paintsil came out in the 73rd minute for Diego Fagundez. He would recording an assist on one of the two goals by Ricard Puig in stoppage time. Pec was responsible for the other assist on Friday in stoppage time.

Puig is perhaps the brightest star for the Galaxy right now.

Scoring twice in a two-minute span is out of this world. Or even out of this Galaxy. In back-to-back playoff games now, Puig has scored twice. He also tallied an assist in Game 1 against the Rapids.

The Spanish midfielder for the Galaxy ended the regular season with 13 goals and 16 assists. He missed five games this year, starting 28 and subbing in for one more.

In his third year, Puig has been a scoring phenomenon. It is not uncommon for Puig to score in stoppage, especially against Colorado. He did so in the 3-1 victory against the Rapids back on October 2nd in the same arena as Friday night game.

Puig is a rather disciplined player, too. Counting the playoffs, Puig has not committed a foul in his last eight games. In fact, he has been charged with a foul in just 12 games and multiple times in only four of them.

Puig's strong play has been contagious. Newcomers Paintsil and Pec have joined in on the scoring frenzy in their first year with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Pec made an impact on the result of both playoff games against the Rapids. The Brazilian forward had three assists and a goal during the two games of the opening round.

"There are little doubts about people towards us, but we don't really care about what people say. We just go game by game, and then we will just see what happens. But our goal is to win the final."

- Joseph Paintsil, LA Galaxy forward

Paintsil added one to the score board in the closing contest of this series, too. He finished the 2024 regular season with ten goals and ten assists.

As a result of the LA Galaxy's hard work and high-octane offense delivering two wins, they now await the winner between Real Salt Lake and Minnesota United FC. These two teams play in Game 2 of their opening round series Saturday night.

Regardless of the winner, the Los Angeles Galaxy shall host the victor in the MLS Western Conference Semifinals. The single elimination game will be played at Dignity Health Sports Park where the Galaxy have yet to lose a game all year.