Joseph Paintsil and Dejan Joveljic each scored early to lift the LA Galaxy to their record sixth MLS Cup title and first since 2014 in a 2-1 victory over the visiting New York Red Bulls in Saturday’s final in Carson, Calif.
Paintsil’s fourth goal of the playoffs and Joveljic’s sixth helped the Galaxy prevail despite missing attacking midfield star Riqui Puig, who suffered a torn ACL helping LA to a Western Conference final victory over Seattle last Saturday.
“It’s a very special feeling to win this championship. I knew that we had a very good team, very good energy,” Joveljic said on Apple TV’s postgame broadcast.
Of Puig’s absence, he added: “Obviously he’s the best player, and he’s the engine of our team. So we showed one more time that even without him we can play some football.”
Puig’s healthy central midfield colleagues Gaston Brugman and Mark Delgado each provided an assist in the victory, one that made Greg Vanney the seventh manager to win multiple MLS Cups and only the fourth to do it with multiple teams.
Vanney had previously lost three MLS Cup finals with LA as a player between 1996 and 2001. Entering this season, the Galaxy had only reached the postseason once under Vanney since he took over in 2021.
“I fell on my face three times as a player,” Vanney said. “So finally to come back to the club that is home for me, I’m just, I’m proud. And I’m grateful for my family who puts up with me and my immersion in this project. I’m just really excited.”
John McCarthy made five saves for LA, which beat New England 2-1 for its fifth title 10 years ago.
Defender Sean Nealis scored the Red Bulls’ lone goal later in the first half in what was only the club’s second appearance in the final, having lost 3-1 to Columbus in 2008.
New York improved after halftime but not enough to force extra time. Galaxy captain Miki Yamane struck the right crossbar in the 65th minute, and Emil Forsberg did the same for New York in the 72nd. The Red Bulls also had a promising goalmouth scramble early in second-half stoppage time that did not result in a shot attempt.
New York remains one of three active MLS founding members not to win the league’s top honor, along with Dallas and New England.
The Galaxy were off to a dream start in the ninth minute on an attack that began when Brugman — who started in place of the injured Puig — played a give-and-go with Edwin Cerrillo to advance through midfield.
Brugman followed that with a nearly perfect through ball into Paintsil’s run through the Red Bull back line. Paintsil strided onto it and drove a low finish that snuck beneath lunging goalkeeper Carlos Coronel and had enough momentum to continue across the goal line. Coronel tallied four saves.
“This is an amazing day,” said Brugman, who was named final MVP in his only playoff start. “I waited for this moment a lot of time. And I’m really happy for the fans, for Riqui, for the club, for us. It’s an amazing day.”
It was 2-0 only four minutes later with a direct attack that began with a long goal kick. Nealis won the first header, but the ball then fell to Delgado, who played an excellent first-touch pass to Joveljic in space.
The striker then surged into the penalty area, and with an option to pass to his left, instead dispatched a sublime low finish into the bottom right corner.
“I received a very good ball from Marky,” Joveljic said. “I saw that the defender is not attacking me so I had more space to run. And I wanted to shoot. I stopped, looked where the goalkeeper (was) and I just put the ball next to the goalkeeper. I was maybe a little bit lucky.”
Nealis restored some tension with an excellent volleyed goal in the 28th minute that came after the Galaxy failed to clear the danger from a corner kick. But the Red Bulls weren’t able to find an equalizer despite superiority in possession and chances after halftime.
–Field Level Media
