P/I/P Season 29: MLS CUP -- LA Galaxy vs RBNY, 12/7/2024, 1 PM PST - Apple TV free and FOX

One thing I want to echo on - because even 10-15 years ago, it wasn't that different from the earlier days, where we were desperate to even be on the news. And this whole playoff series has been exhilarating. It's the multi-generational aspect to the crowds being amazing. I've been a fan since day 1 (or matchday 3, at least, '96 at the 'Bowl vs DC, who at that point sucked) but it always felt a little forced, not like what you get from a Dodgers' game for example. For a lot of us, that hurt, but of course it's natural with a brand new team - what loyalty can you have? Good God, this is a country where people move cities and sports teams with impunity. But we stuck with it, and the league - barely - made it. Now we're here! What's better, our kids, sometimes even our Grandkids are here! 10 years of pure BS - and it's hard enough to follow from a distance, from what I'll always call home, SoCal - and we are the f**king team in the league that everyone will judge themselves by again. As it should be. No place on Earth I'd rather be.

This is for all of us, the bacon wrapped hotdog eaters, the king taco lovers, the lothar osiander defenders - our team did it, and I had no part in that but f**k it if I don't also feel like part of this doesn't belong to me.

Quoth Randy Newman, I love LA.

 

CBS Sport Recap

 

Google "LA Galaxy" today, and you get fireworks.

 

https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/la-galaxy-what-we-learned-in-2024-what-comes-next

 

I've said all season long, including just before the playoffs start that I didn't believe we could win the whole thing this year. I didn't think this until LAFC got eliminated, which led us to a free path to the Cup.

I think we were a little bit lucky with the schedule, I'm not sure we could have done it with one game on the road. Losing that last game in Houston was probably a blessing in disguise because 1) we had to ask ourselves and revolt a little bit 2) the LAFC part of the bracker was probably tougher (kudos to all who said this). We won the championship but I'm not sure we were the best 2024 MLS team. That's the beauty of playoffs !

Garcés had an excellent game, and he was probably the true MVP of the final. He deserves a ton of credit for being the final piece missing. I'm really looking forward to see him for a whole season, he really has a MLS defender of the year potential.

Credit to Will Kuntz too, he took over a club in shambles and in three transfer windows (including one with huge sanctions), he managed to build a championship team. Chris Klein and co. should really feel ashamed by their ineptitude, it's even more evident right now.

 

thanks for linking a rare complete article

year 2 should be interesting… we shall see if the schedule glut burns out the team as it has many recent champions.

 

I think the big kicker will be who we keep and who we lose. I do think theres a very good chance we keep all of the big 4. 1 outstanding season in MLS probably won't be enough to lose a player like Pec. the rumors that some top clubs are keeping tabs on him are probably real, but if I were over there I might want to see at least a 2nd season to show consistency.
The overall core of this team will most likely stay intact, but one big question is with the expansion, will we lose any players to the expansion draft? that's a big question as well.

 

And I wanna thank Greg Vanney too, he deserves a lot of credit. I've always been a Vanney apologist, never asked for his head while, like all of us, I sometimes questionned some of his choices.

The style of play he developed this year was great : a team confident in possession, patiently waiting for the right moment to make a quick attack (Riqui Puig was used well in this role) while being super effective as a counterattacking team in the second half, all of these were great ideas, and it was Greg ideas.

I don't think Greg got enough credit after the final itself. Starting Brugman was questionable, it worked well. Leaving the ball at home to NY was unexpected (how much is it related to Riqui Puig's absence ?), it worked too. The Red Bulls looked unable to create chances most of the time (and the hardest game of the playoffs was against the Sounders, not the final) and I can say it : Vanney tactically beat the opposite coach. That's not something you've heard often during the past couple of years.

Thank you Greg, you finally convinced me you're a great coach.

 

We are going to be really good again next year. The exciting part is just how good will we be? I can't say I have thought that at any time in the past 10 years.

Already excited for next year.

 

What an awesome angle of Dejan's goal at 4:35 mark of this very very nicely done video.

 

not to mention the benefit of already having chemistry together

 

Cautiously optimistic. I don’t think this win was a fluke as the 05 Cup run, but we still have significant areas to improve. As happy as I am for Vanney getting a ring with the Galaxy, I’m not sold on him. Some forty games after we first kicked a ball, the team still showed terrible game management (except Fagundez), was still vulnerable on set pieces, and if we had Neal instead of Garcia, I think we lost that game 3-2.


TrickHog makes a good point: this was a team set to succeed in 2025, but a favorable path opened up, and we had the raw ingredients to take advantage.


I hope the team keeps humble and realizes there’s work to do, like LEM-LAG says. I’m reminded a bit of Ezra Hendrickson’s comment pre-season 2003 after winning the MLS Cup: “we don’t rebuild, we reload”. The Galaxy went on to have its first sustained period of mediocrity. It was seven years of pretty terrible results and performances, sort of masked by the fact that we won the domestic double even while being pretty poor as a team. Also reminded a bit of DC’s fourth Cup with Freddy Adu: there was a lot of talk about “we’re back,” and we all know where they ended up.

But hey, I thought we’d finish 4th in the west and 7th overall this year. I don’t know jack.

 

You weren't the only one.

 

Regarding Pec, I wonder how many teams will look at his games against Nouhou, who seems to have shut him down. Is Nouhou just an exceptional talent and is he also representative of typical leftbacks in the bigger leagues? It may cause some hesitancy on Pec.

 

Imagine if this team doesn’t improve in any areas other than converting pks and defending set pieces?

Supporters shield for sure!

 

I think the whole team could strategize on that. Pec was clearly hesitant to take on Nouhou on-on-one, and also the team didn't have anyone near Pec to combine with on a regular basis, until Mark Delgado came in, at least that's my recollection. In the final, it seemed that Pec played a little more mobile and centrally, with Yamane and one of the central mids often occupying space in the right midfield.

Pec may have been feeling the long season here at the end - he took a bunch of hard tackles. I thought he slowed down just a bit, and "tried shit" a bit less. It's too bad that tactical fouls aren't an automatic yellow, as they should be, especially the ones that really take out the legs of the offensive player. But is our league going to support a high-flying offense like the Galaxy long term, or will punishing tackles as a strategy be rewarded? I would bet on the latter. Refs are rewarded verbally for "showing restraint" with yellows early in a game, and many times that sets a tone.

 

this was pretty cool, thanks for the heads up

 

thought I would do a screen capture of the LA Galaxy google, for those that may not get a chance to see it, before its removed

 

one of the best things is the the air up here in the bay has been disgusting for quite a few days. the mls cup win will make them all take a deep breath before they inhale that amazing, gross air.

 

In case you forgot, the Galaxy won MLS Cup. I just picked up old away (green) kit on sale to commemorate. As most of you, i probably do have lots of gear over the years, too much, but I couldn’t pass up at least something.

 

I wonder if Reyes' somewhat mysterious illness that took him out of the lineup for MLS Cup helped to hasten his departure from the Red Bulls. It also probably reduces the possibility that they will select Yoshida in the expansion draft.

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Great camera angle on Dejan’s goal! That was a a great strikers goal. The creativity of the finish was, dare I say, Keano-esque!

 

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