When the VEGAS ratings published Paris lines on the MLS qualifiers last week, they listed the Galaxy Like the favorites to win the Western Conference and qualify for their first MLS Cup final in a decade.
If it raised a few eyebrows, given the way the team played in their first playoff game, maybe SportsBooks do not give the team enough credit. Because with Dejan Jovljic And Riqui Puig Everyone scoring two goals and John Nelson adding their first MLS score, the Galaxy has exploded the Colorado Rapids 5-0 In Dignity Health Sports Park in a match that was much more unilateral than the score.
The score equaled the biggest margin of victory in an eliminatory match in the history of the franchise, a final achievement in the first round against Real Salt Lake in 2014. It was also the last time that the Galaxy played in the MLS CUP final. And the match on Saturday was the most unbalanced loss for rapids in more than two years.
“It was a very clean performance. Probably one of the best I can remember, ” The Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “And at a good time.”
The Galaxy goes to Suburban Denver for the second match in the Best Of-Three series on Friday needing another victory to qualify for the conference semi-finals. A defeat would require a third match in Dignity Health Sports Park on November 9.
None of the two results is ideal for the galaxy, given the bizarre eliminatory program of MLS qualifiers.
Sweeping the first two games would send the galaxy to the conference semi-finals, but with the playoff series on the international break in November, the next team's next game would not be before November 23 at the earliest, a 22-day break that threatens to steal the team with its pace.
A defeat, on the other hand, would oblige a winning match at home with the season of the Galaxy at stake. Vanney said that he was not about to think too much.
“In the best of three, you win this victory and now we have two games to win one to arrive in the next round,” he said.
Given how the Galaxy has dominated, the result on Saturday can be worth a little more in a way that has not been reflected on the score sheet.
“Now we have all the momentum,” said Nelson. “The work is not done. We continue. (But) we have set the tone. We have set the intensity. “
The galaxy did it from the start, attacking the opening whistle and finally rewarded for their attack in the 32nd minute when Jveljic, cradling the defender of Colorado Reggie Cannon with his chest, obtained his forehead on the corner of the angle of Puig and completed a soft head inside the right post.
It was the 70th goal of the season for the galaxy, but just the third in a corner, which was a weakness for them.
Outside, Miki Yamane and Nelson joined forces to double the head of seven minutes in the second half, Yamane put on a bullet through the box for a large open Nelson, who installed him with a foot and then sent a right foot in the upper right corner for the first goal of his six-year career.
“As soon as Miki played it, I felt in my head, if this ball passes, I mark this,” said Nelson. “And it passed. I was composed, I was calm. There was no doubt.”
Two minutes later, Puig, who was everywhere on the field, made 3-0 after Joveljic diverted a pass from Nelson in front of him at the top of the box, setting up an easy and straight finish. Jveljic and Puig then closed the scoring with Joveljic flowing on the rebound of a shot from Gabriel Pec, dribbling on the top of the box to create space, then beating the American national goalkeeper Zack Steffen clearly with his left foot in the 75th minute for his 17th goal of the team. Puig put its second goal of the night – and the 15th of the season – 12 minutes later.
Almost as impressive as the offensive was the defense, which did not give up a shot, allowing goalkeeper John McCarthy to record his seventh white sheet of the season. A great reason was the Colorado rarely had the ball, the galaxy now possession for 60 of the 90 minutes, which was a large part of the match plan.
“I don't really remember having to defend one against one, we were so on the ball,” said Nelson. “All this week was, as soon as we lose (the ball), counter-press. We are in their face. We are ready. We dirty them. We win the ball.
“It was relentless. And that's what we have to do, be relentless. “
There is a good chance that they will continue to play this way, they will remain a good bet to return to the final of the MLS Cup.
