LA Galaxy 2-1 New York Red Bulls: MLS Cup final – as it happened
Key events
MLS Commissioner Don Garber stands with the Philip Anschutz Trophy and welcomes … Philip Anschutz, who once owned roughly half the teams in the league but whittled down his holding to just the Galaxy. He’s not one for public speaking – a lot of journalists over the years have tried and failed to interview him and get the definitive word on why and how he decided to singlehandedly prop up Major League Soccer when it could’ve folded – but he is taking the microphone from Taylor Twellman and paying tribute to the fans.
Now Maya Yoshida takes the trophy to his teammates, and that’s where we’ll leave it for today. Thanks for following along with us today. Next: MLS Year 30, a potential change to a new calendar, and more dramatic unpredictability in a league in which teams’ fortunes can change so rapidly.
Stat of the day …
MLS Cup’s first half basically had the same amount of scoring as the SEC Championship in football.
Gaston Brugman wins MLS Cup MVP
He was only in the lineup because Puig was injured, but he responded to the call. The Uruguayan had spent most of his career in Italy before signing with the Galaxy in 2022.
Adam Blakeley writes in reference to the 93rd minute: “Clear foul in the box, ignored by VAR. Once again, I don’t know what the hell VAR is for.”
I checked out a refs’ forum – they’d like another look.
The Red Bulls finished with 547 passes to LA’s 397. It didn’t seem that way. And the one that mattered most was the one from Brugman to Paintsil that broke the deadlock early.
According the MLS site, the xG in this game was even – 1.3 to 1.3. Not buying it.
But the Red Bulls absolutely made this a game. After five seasons of mediocrity since Bradley Wright-Phillips’ retirement, they have put together a team that could contend again in the next few years.
LA Galaxy win sixth MLS Cup
That was a classic. McCarthy is in tears. Puig found his jacket. It’s bedlam of the grandest sort.
Red Bulls players are overcome. They had their chances at continuing the long string of upsets that would’ve given them their first MLS Cup trophy in 29 years of trying.
But the Galaxy are simply too good. Worthy champions all the way.
McCarthy’s goal kick is majestic, and the Galaxy win possession. Fagundez is in the corner.
IT’S OVER!
It was, in fact, Forsberg who was offside. Delayed flag from the AR, as they are instructed to do in the VAR era.
How much time is actually left now?
LAST CHANCE: Red Bulls struggling to get the ball forward. Finally, it gets to Forsberg, who turns, but it’s blocked.
Now we have an offside call – which the Galaxy bench thought was the final whistle. It was not, and we have to clear the field.
90 min +5: Forsberg loses control at the top of the area. Ball is recycled and played in, but McCarthy gets it.
Puig has stripped off his jacket and tie and made his way to the field.
One minute left.
90 min +4: McCarthy leaps toward the sky to collect a high ball, and he collides with Burke as he returns to Earth. He doesn’t milk the clock, though, and we resume.
90 min +2: Sean Nealis breaks up an attempt by the Galaxy to break the pressure.
And then CHANCES … how did they not at least get that on frame?? Forsberg is wide open 8 yards out, and the ball goes just over his head!
SUB: Jalen Neal comes in to join the LA defense, with Paintsil racing off. Formation change, obviously.
90 min +1: The Galaxy weather some NY possession, and then Pec goes 1-on-4 the other direction. Never going to get through, but that killed about 30 seconds of time and put the Red Bulls back in their own half.
90 min: Garces is up and walking off. Six minutes of stoppage.
88 min: A letoff in the action while trainers tend to Garces.
Free kick from just inside the sideline for the Red Bulls whenever we resume.
85 min: Haven’t heard much from Morgan today, but he earns a corner for the Red Bulls. The corner is floated all the way over, and the Galaxy have forgotten the existence of Harper, whose run perfectly meets the ball but whose shot lacks accuracy and/or power. Beautifully executed, but it wasn’t an easy shot.
82 min: The Red Bulls have some dangerous possession, but the Galaxy spring Pec going the other way. The Nealis brothers scramble back to defend, and the Galaxy settle for possession of their own.
Which they squander by drifting offside.
SUBS: Dylan Nealis is out, as is Daniel Edelman. Entering: Wiki Carmona and longtime Philadelphia Union player Cory Burke.
80 min: No shots on goal for three minutes? How dare they?!
Seriously – this game is on a knife’s edge.
77 min: An acrobatic header yields a Red Bulls corner. The ball is recycled for a medium-range header from Eile that sails wide.
SUB: As expected for a while, Fagundez comes in. Joveljić makes way. Fagundez will likely play a little deeper. Not exactly a defensive substitution, but a slight shift back from the all-out attack.
76 min: CHANCE! Reus’ first touch of the game settles the ball for his second, a shot that’s a little tamer than it should’ve been. Paintsil teed him up pretty well, but Coronel has no trouble with this one.
We’ve got a pulsating final here. A thriller. A slobber-knocker.
73 min: CHANCE AT EITHER END! Pec has a shot saved (xg:21%!!), and the Red Bulls immediately go the other way and get numbers forward in a hurry. It ends up with a Forsberg shot from the top of the penalty area that skims just wide, and the captain slams himself into the grass in frustration at having missed the chance.
The Galaxy settle things down and get forward again for Pec, but this time, the flag is up for offside.
SUB: Marco Reus, the Bundesliga veteran, is now on for LA, replacing Brugman.
71 min: To underscore the point – the MLS site gives the xG for the game as 1.0 to 0.5 in the Galaxy’s favor.
In more pertinent stats, Harper picks up a yellow card after sliding through Joveljić’s legs. The Serbian striker gets up angrily, and Harper gives him a little shove. Not an impressive sequence for the young Californian.
69 min: There’s some chatter on social media about the Red Bulls’ pass completion percentage (81.4% to LA’s 75.3) and possession edge (55.2%). Having watched every second of this game, I can attest that such stats are absolutely meaningless. The Red Bulls still have a puncher’s chance, but in no sense are they the better side here today.
So far.
68 min: Red Bulls free kick accomplishes little.
65 min: OFF THE POST for Yemane, overlapping on the right and sending a 15-yard shot clanging off the woodwork.
FIRST SUBS, both for NYRB: Brazilian Manoel for Belgian Vanzeir, Donkor for Stroud. We now have a Ghanaian player on each side.
61 min: If you were just finding out about these teams, you’d think Garces rather than Yoshida was the international veteran.
Paintsil poses some danger up front, and the ball drops to Brugman for a medium-range blast that whizzes wide.
59 min: Now it’s Garces with a vital play on defense for the Galaxy, interceding on a through ball.
Eile makes it a duel of center backs with a terrific recovery run to snuff out a Galaxy counter.
57 min: A shout for a foul against the Galaxy? Not much of one, really, but the Red Bulls have managed some attack.
Then the Galaxy show they can go Route 1, and Eile has to shield an attacker off the ball so Coronel can come out of the area to play it away.
Eile, incidentally, was a very last-minute replacement for Reyes at center back. So last-minute that we didn’t even have it in our lineups just before the game.
55 min: CHANCE for Paintsil after the Galaxy overrun the Red Bulls around 20 yards out. A pass is beautifully dummied to Paintsil, who’s standing alone within the penalty arc. Touch, shot, just over the right corner.
52 min: Half-chance for the Red Bulls, with a nifty combination working the ball up the left side to Vanzeir, whose shot near the top of the penalty area is blocked by the captain Yoshida.
51 min: I’d be remiss if I didn’t show Puig’s sharp suit, with a tie matching the jacket perfectly.
LA with a bit of an attack, but it’s a tame shot in the end from the right back Yemane.
48 min: Timid start to the half.
Just double-checked – yes, I did cover that game. Probably my first trip to LA. Today, there’s a better-than-zero chance that I’m going to move there. Especially given the sunshine today.
Second half is underway …
Stat note: A BlueSky user notes that John Wolyniec is no longer the only player to score a goal for the NY/NJ club in MLS Cup play.
I think I covered that game in person.
Mailbag:
I’ve been asked about The Guardian’s plans for Canadian Premier League coverage. I still live in the USA, so I don’t know.
Peter Oh drops the name of the Red Bulls’ coach, Sandro Schwarz, to make a Mel Brooks reference: “RBNY let LA have way too much of the ball and space early on, but their goal has set up dramatic back-and-forth Space Balls action for the rest of the match. I’m firmly behind the Galaxy. RBNY fans, May the Schwarz be with you!”
Halftime: LA 2-1 RBNY
After 15 minutes, it looked like a rout. Then it looked like the Red Bulls would equalize.
Should be an intriguing second half ahead.
45 min +2: Out of not much, the Galaxy float a ball into the center for Joveljic, whose close-range shot is right at Coronel.
Three minutes of stoppage time on the way.
45 min: The word I’m seeking is “lull.”
43 min: Some smooth possession play from the Galaxy leads to not much. But perhaps the wind has faded from the sails of the Red Bulls’ comeback.
42 min: Cynical foul by Stroud on Pec, and I’m not really sure why that didn’t merit a yellow card as well.
Brugman’s free kick is knocked out for a corner kick.
Score reminder: LA 2-1 RBNY, 40th minute
38 min: Forsberg collects the ball near midfield and starts to head toward the goal. He slows down a bit first. Marky Delgado, chasing behind him, does not, and he runs over the Red Bulls captain. First LA yellow of the day.
