The MLS Cup is a preview for a team’s stars to shine at their best, but if the LA Galaxy host the New York Red Bulls in the biggest game in MLS on Saturday, they will be left without their biggest name under center : Riqui Puig. During the Galaxy’s 1-0 victory over the Seattle Sounders, Puig tore his ACL and persisted in playing the sport’s final games on one leg. While it was a brave show to pull off during the game, Gregg Vanney and the Galaxy now have to figure out how to stack the odds.
Puig had 13 goals and 15 assists throughout the season before stepping things up with four goals and three assists in the MLS Cup Playoffs before his upset. At the center of it all, he’s an irreplaceable presence, but Vanney must plan on missing out on the best sixth date this season.
Without Puig through five games of the familiar season, the Galaxy was able to win three of which they scored eight goals and allowed four, but this challenge is different thanks to the click that the Red Bulls use. Something that Puig is capable of taking advantage of, an eminent counterattack. The closest team the Galaxy faced without Puig to the Red Bulls was St. Louis Town SC and that was the only real loss without their talisman.
“Riqui, above all, is the ultimate competitor. He wants to win, he wants to compete, he wants to play, he wants to impact the game and he wants responsibility on the field,” Vanney said of Puig’s impact on . “He leads the team in so many ways, if you look at the stat sheet on any given occasion, chances are he has touched the ball between 120 and 140 times and he will dominate the team in touches by a fair margin because he wants to win and he wants to have an impact on the game.
“We will surely miss that on the offensive end, as someone who can change the pace of the game like this, and any play at any given moment can be the one that changes the game when you have a guy like Riqui because of his ability to make all kinds of of plays and doing things like that. We’re going to miss him on the defensive end. More than anything, he’s someone who is a smart defender at his position, but more than anything he’s someone who the opposition has to hold accountable in transition because.” The team is very good at transitioning through him, so they have to take Riqui into account when they have the ball.
Adding all that together, there is no doubt how difficult it would be to replace Puig and the only player who could do so is also suffering from a concussion in Marco Reus. The former Borussia Dortmund player, who joined the Galaxy mid-season, has not been able to contribute much to the team and these days suffers from a groin blow on a daily basis.
The Galaxy will give Reus every expectation to contribute in this match because his attacking prowess is sometimes a deciding factor, just as Gareth Bale scored the key goal to set up the match for Los Angeles FC in their MLS Cup. he will triumph in 2022. Grande fits the name of big game players and Reus, even at 35 years old, still fits in that section.
Without Reus, that’s when Marco Delgado, who used to be on the bench against the Sounders, will be the closest player. Usually called upon to move around in the deeper outfield of the sound, it’s a bit of a different position for him, however, as someone who played for Vanney when he used to be the head teacher for Toronto FC, this duo is in a position. to get the most out of each and every alternative, no matter the time.
It is this exercise and versatility that has seen the Galaxy move forward this season, as even without Puig, the Red Bulls will need to do business with Joseph Paintsil, Gabriel Pec and Dejan Joveljic, who are all fearsome attackers in their own right. Vanney can have his team ready for the ages and with Puig out, there’s also the part that the Galaxy want to take home the trophy for their man.
“We’ve got to keep going, the game doesn’t stop for anyone and we just have to figure it out and you know, that’s Greg.” [Vanney’s] work and we’ll see how it goes, but we will definitely miss Riqui,” Delgado mentioned. “Our heart goes out to him and it gives us another reason to go out and give everything for him.”
Those moments can convey a group as a whole and it is clear that the Galaxy believes in Vanney’s concepts. Of course, the Red Bulls will do everything they can to fight that, but all the Galaxy can do is focus on their tournament and do their best to bring home a trophy for Puig. .
LA Galaxy predicted XI: John McCarthy, John Nelson, Maya Yoshida, Carlos Garcés, Miki Yamane, Edwin Cerrillo, Gaston Brugman, Marco Delgado, Joseph Paintsil, Gabriel Pec, Dejan Joveljic
Learn to monitor the odds
- present: Saturday December 7 | Life: 4 pm Eastern Time
- Location: Dignity Fitness Field of Use – Carson, California
- TV: Fox | They are living waves: Fubo TV (Effort for the Sovereign)
- Odd: Los Angeles Galaxy -140; Draw +400; York Pink Bulls unused +340
