By Rory Carroll
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – LA Galaxy hope to bring the team’s decade-long slog through the Major League Soccer wilderness to an end when they host the New York Red Bulls for the MLS Cup championship on Saturday.
LA Galaxy were one of MLS’s 10 charter members when it launched in 1996 and is the league’s most successful franchise with a record five MLS Cup titles.
The glamorous club has also served as a destination for some of the all-time greats of the game including David Beckham, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Steven Gerrard.
But the team has endured a frustrating title drought since they last lifted the MLS Cup in 2014, not even appearing in a final since.
To end that streak, they will need to overcome the loss of midfielder Riqui Puig, who tore his ACL in the second half of the Western Conference Final against the Seattle Sounders.
Playing with the injury, Puig set up the lone goal in the Galaxy’s 1-0 win.
“Riqui is the ultimate competitor,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said this week.
“He drives the team in many ways… we’re going to have to redefine who we are and how we’re going to win this game without someone like Riqui,” he said.
“You have to look a little more into the collective side of things.”
The Red Bulls, who are also one of the league’s original members, are looking to conclude their Cinderella run through the MLS playoffs with a first MLS Cup title.
While the Galaxy have reached the final game of the season thanks to their explosive attack, the Red Bulls have been reliant on a stout defence led by goalkeeper Carlos Coronel.
Vanney said he expects his team to face pressure from the opening whistle.
“This Red Bulls team is going to come out and press,” he said.
“We need to make sure the ball isn’t sticking on anyone’s foot, that it’s moving quick, that we’re combining and in the right spaces at the right times to play through that press,” he said.
“We’re going to have to adapt in a collective way. It’s not any one player who is going to step on and do what Riqui has done for us, that’s for sure.”
The MLS Cup championship match kicks off on Saturday at 2100 GMT at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Toby Davis)
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