A dismal 2-0 loss in Dallas on Wednesday followed by a halfway brilliant 3-2 home victory on Saturday vaulted the LA Galaxy to the top of the Western Conference, as Real Salt Lake and LAFC played to a 1-1 stalemate. Bewildered fans must hear confusing terms in their heads, like bipolar, split personality, manic depressive or petulant adolescent. In a few short days how can the same team wander listlessly about the pasture against the eleventh place Hoops and scorch the fourth place Rapids for the entire first half?
Corner of the Galaxy’s Josh Guessman wondered why the Galaxy even boarded the plane to Texas at all. Dallas didn’t bother with an Austin inspired psych-ops scheme. They just showed up for training and the Galaxy played the part of traffic cones. Like a brilliant high school student who sleeps through history class because it’s boring, the Galaxy seem to lose motivation when the weather doesn’t suit them. Three of the four defeats in 2024 occurred in Austin, Chicago and Dallas, tepid performances in hot humid conditions.
When asked about the importance of topping the table, Galaxy midfielder Riqui Puig mentioned securing home playoff games with favorable weather conditions, “Yeah, it was difficult in Dallas. It was like really hot conditions, not the same as L A. The team did not feel good there.”
The other loss to the cross town bullies LAFC at the Rose Bowl featured unfavorable physical conditions. The Galaxy succumbed to fourteen fouls in a game where the referee ignored numerous hard challenges. They tend to wilt in heated conditions—psychological, physical, or atmospheric.
LA expressed both sides of its personality in the 3-2 victory against Colorado. From the whistle the Galaxy established a high tempo passing rhythm, maintaining possession, probing and breaking lines out of the back for a solid four minutes. The Rapids struggled to maintain defensive shape.
Normally a game stretching winger, Galaxy attacker Joseph Paintsil scrambled the Rapids center backs with astute positioning and darting runs as an out-and-out number nine. The Galaxy progressed through the lines when he checked back, attacked the middle when he cleared space with inside out runs. The Ghanaian’s explosive acceleration challenged the organization and communication of the Rapids back line.
In the seventh minute, after center back Maya Yoshida intercepted a Colorado through ball, Yamane pushed the attack up the left flank. Left winger Diego Fagundez opened up to the touch line, so Riqui Puig and Paintsil slide over creating an overload. As Puig and Fagundez exchanged passes, Paintsil darted toward the corner flag opening a bit of space.
Delgado joined the overload to combine with Piug and Fagundez who attacked the space created by Paintsil. Rapids center back Andreas Maxsø grabbed the Galaxy forward by the shorts to slow the attack. Two other defenders closed in, leaving a parking lot sized space for Galaxy left back Mauricio Cuevas. Desperate Colorado midfielder Jasper Löffelsend swept a tepid clearance directly to Cuevas who hammered it past Colorado goalkeeper Zack Stephen. From start to finish the play serves as a perfect training video for aggressive attacking play inside a possession based system.
In the midst of the excitement the Rapids exhaled a sigh of relief. The referee blew the whistle and called foul just before Cuevas struck the ball, a flashback to the Pro referee work stoppage in March. Vanney guarded his comments, but he must wonder if the Pro replacements offer any improvement over the replacements they replaced.
“You can hold the whistle for as long as you want and bring it back if the play stops going forward. This is an unforgivable moment, the definition of an advantage.”
Stephen scrambled across his goal mouth to parry away the resulting free kick by Fagundez. This time the Galaxy maintained focus on attacking the Rapids rather than the referee, pinging the ball around at pace. A five pass sequence sent Puig forward pushing the Rapids back on the left. Galaxy defensive midfielder Edwin Cerrillos pivoted and sent a raking sixty yard missile toward Cuevas and DP winger Gabriel Pec. Miscommunication wasted the opportunity, but pass served as a jab to the jaw of the reeling Colorado defense.
By the twelfth minute, with the Rapids lost their will to press as the Galaxy passing game sliced them apart at will. The two Rapids center backs bracketed Paintsil, with support from the outside backs, worried about his runs behind them. A gap opened up between the defensive line and the midfielders. Galaxy Midfielder Mark Delgado combined with Cerrillo to progressed the ball to Gabriel Pec running into the gap.
Paintsil checked back to combine with Pec, drawing the defenders a bit forward and leaving Fagundez to ghost into the gaping space on the left. Pec pinged a chest high pass to the winger who half volleyed a rocket past Stephen. Aggressive possession reduced the energetic Colorado press to field full of hapless defenders waiving at the ball as it pass them by, 1-0 Galaxy.
As so often happens when the Galaxy score, they revert to old habits. Colorado pressured the Galaxy in a deep block. Defenders and defensive midfielders worked hard to keep the Rapids at bay, but the wingers slacked off just a touch. That still dip in intensity allowed Colorado to probe the penalty, get behind and attempt crosses.
In the sixteenth minute the Fagundez managed to clear the ball toward Paintsil covered by Bombito, most likely the two fastest players in MLS. At top speed Paintsil may have a slight advantage, but rather than cut the ball back and invite his teammates to join the attack, he exposes the ball to Bombito. Even after the Galaxy recover it, JP seemed intent on getting off a shot or a cross, squandering an opportunity to subject the Rapids relentless possession once again.
The play relieved pressure, allowing the Galaxy to defend higher up, tight team cohesion loosened, to slightly disconnected, fractionally slower to respond resting on defense rather than offense.
In the twenty-second minute they seemed to wake up again. Slicing through the Colorado press to set up an overload on the right. Passing combinations between Delgado, Pec and Puig with a flurry of movement off the ball put Cuevas on the en line with a chance to cross. If Bombito had not dragged Paintsil back by the arm, Colorado would not have cleared the danger from their goal mouth.
But the malaise remained and the Galaxy shape became stretched with every attack. Passing sequences and movement waned. In the thirty-first minute, Pec and Delgado jogged back on defense allowing Colorado winger to play and uncontested through ball to Jonathan Lewis running behind Cuevas. The cross to Kevin Cabral on the doorstep leveled the score. What could have been a blowout became a struggle.
Glimpses of passing and movement littered the rest of the half. The Galaxy scored two more gorgeous team goals, but that defensive focus and intensity did not appear again until the second half when Vanney brought on the substitutes to see out the game.
The Galaxy possess the technical skill and soccer IQ to execute the offensive system Vanney favors. When that engine revs, only physical teams allowed to foul can stop them. But when they rush the offense, slack off slightly on defense the game gets stretched and against good teams they end up trading goals.
Despite winning the game 3-2, Colorado ended up with a higher expected goals, 2.6 to 2.4. Looking across the league at the teams at the top of the table Miami, Real Salt Lake, Columbus and Cincinnati, the Galaxy have a higher ceiling. If they can lock in on defense, slow down and crush opponents with passing and movement, they can win all the trophies on offer. The offensive firepower will always threaten opponents goal, but the defensive personality will determine how high they can climb.
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