Commerce City, CO—In his early interviews with the Galaxy, German legend Marco Reus said, “It’s the little things in football that make the difference. We need to be calm.” The first-place Galaxy traveled to the mile-high confines of Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, expecting to face a stiff challenge from the third-place Colorado Rapids. On cue, the Rapids controlled the first half, winning the majority of duels in the midfield. Wresting away possession with a high press, they stifled the vaunted LA counter-attack, strolling into halftime with a well-earned 1-0 lead.
Coach Chris Armas arranged the Rapids in a narrow 4-3-2-1 defensive formation, pressing the lines as high as possible. They limited the space and time for Galaxy creator Riqui Puig, preventing him from operating in his preferred central midfield areas and forcing turnovers. Pacy LA wingers Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil dropped deeper to help defensively, pulling them out of the wide channels they favor on counter-attacks.
The scheme set the stage for a midfield battle for supremacy, with deep-lying Ronan and Laraz supporting Fernandez, Mihailovic, and Harris. The overload pressurized the Galaxy before they could spring their fleet-footed attackers, disrupting the timing and accuracy of LA’s passes.
Tasked with controlling the middle for the Galaxy, defensive midfielder Edwin Cerrillo attempted to deal with at least two Rapids players. He held his own in one-on-one duels but could not handle pressure from a second player.
Despite a 55-45 percent advantage in possession, balls played to the middle generally fell to the Rapids’. As a developing team, still learning to adjust on the fly, Pec and Paintsil dropped deeper and pinched inward to help Cerrillo, limiting their ability to attack when the Galaxy won possession. LA played through the lines on the flanks but did not force the Rapid’s defense to scramble back toward their own goal.
Colorado peppered the box with crosses, driving to the end line to cut the ball back. Young Columbian center-back Emiro Garces dominated Rapids striker Rafael Navarro with body-up marking and aerial prowess, leaving center-back partner Maya Yoshida to clean up the scraps. The game devolved into a stalemate until the late stages of the half when fatigue and oxygen scarcity affected Galaxy players.
In the forty-fourth minute, Garces chased down a through ball intended for Navarro, clipping an awkwardly high pass to goalkeeper John McCarthy. McCarthy managed to jump-kick it out for a corner kick. Delgado cleared the ensuing Djordje-Mihailovic cross directly to Pec on the left flank.
Rapids midfielder Connor Ronan anticipated the play, turning to run with Pec if he tried to break. The Galaxy winger rushed his first touch off the back of the retreating Ronan, who turned and delivered a precise pass to Mihailovic, now stationed on the Rapids’ right flank at the top of the box.
The giveaway allowed five Colorado players to remain stationed in the penalty area, each one marked by a Galaxy defender. Pec threw up his hands in frustration as Ronan followed his pass to create an overload on the right side. Most likely affected by the rarified air, the Galaxy defense did not push their line to the top of the penalty area like usual.
With Pec still mulling his misfortune, Ronan received a simple pass with time and space to unleash a low bullet through the crowded penalty area past the completely unsighted McCarthy into the bottom left corner. 1-0 Rapids.
The entire sequence typified a recurring Galaxy theme when playing on the road in 2024. An excellent clearance by Delgado directly to Pec should be followed by at least two passes, a little thing that would force the Colorado players stationed in the box to retreat into their defensive shape. Even if the ball turns over to the Rapids, the Galaxy defensive line must push up to force the Rapids to retreat outside the penalty box.
Every post-match presser during the season features at least one comment by Galaxy coach Greg Vanney about impatience, rushing attacks, and the need for calm. If Pec holds the ball, waiting for an advancing teammate, the Galaxy can break as a team if Pec realizes the danger his impatience caused and tracks back to mark Ronan, no shot, no goal, 0-0 at halftime. As Vanney puts it, “That’s ourselves hurting ourselves.”
After another simple but crucial Vanney tactical tweak at halftime, the Galaxy struck quickly in the second half. Right back, Miki Yamane pinched inside when the Galaxy gained possession, balancing out the middle and opening up passing lanes to Pec in the right channel. The Brazilian took up wider positions, pulling one of the Colorado midfielders wider to assist the left fullback with Pec.
When the ball turned over to the Rapids, Yamane enabled Cerrillo to hunt and repress in the center channel. For the first time in the game, the Galaxy won the midfield battle, forcing the Rapids to retreat. Colorado did not adjust to the shift in midfield pressure points. They continued to press high, the Galaxy either bypassed the pressure or played through it as the Galaxy wingers sucked the players toward the flank.
Vanney undoubtedly emphasized the need for patience at halftime. The first Galaxy goal provided a perfect illustration. Puig received the ball just in front of his defenders. Three Rapids players closed in. Rather than attempt to beat them off the dribble or play a hero pass, Puig evaded the pressure and played a simple pass back to Yohsida who relayed it to Cerrillo, dropping behind Nelson on the left.
The inversion pulled the Rapids midfielders forward as Cerrillo who played to Nelson on the left sideline. When the ball arrived again at Puig in the middle, yet another Colorado midfielder pushed forward, leaving a huge gap between the Rapid’s defense and their midfield. The old, impatient Puig would try a difficult pass to Delgado stationed in acres of space between the lines. The new, more patient Puig played back to Yoshida, who sent a splitter to Delgado that cut out five Rapids defenders.
Delgado drove the ball forward against the retreating Rapids defense, no longer able to face the attack. His simple through ball to Pec finished the play as the winger rolled a right footer gently into the bottom left corner. 1-1, game on.
The extra body in the build-up enabled Cerrillo to invert, drawing the high-press defense forward. Puig recognized that three Rapids defenders would watch his every move, playing simple passes to create a gap between the Rapids’ lines. One of the best space commandos in MLS, Delgado found a great spot with Yoshida surveying the situation from the back. In the end, the Galaxy made it look easy. If the ball failed to roll into the net on its own, Paintsil arrived in time to tap it in.
Right after the kickoff, the Galaxy executed the same approach, Puig dropped deep. This time, the Rapids laid off him, and he split the lines to Yamane. The attack broke down, but the Rapids’ dominance over the midfield had been obliterated.
In the fifty-eighth minute, Cerrillo inverted with Nelson again on the Galaxy left. As Colorado closed in, the young defensive midfielder wheeled and played back to Yoshida, who relayed the ball to Garces and back to McCarthy. McCarthy bypassed the midfield with a long kick that Colorado headed back into the middle. Delgado anticipated the play and popped it forward toward Jovelic. His glancing header found Pec running at the defense.
The old, impatient Pec would drive forward, attempting to create a shot for himself. The new, more patient Pec slowed a bit, allowing Puig and Jovelic to join the play at the top of the box. Jovelic continued his run, forcing the Colorado defense to step toward him, affording Puig time and space in the center at the top of the. Puig teed up the pass from Pec and stroked a clinical curler into the bottom right corner, 2-1 Galaxy.
Championship teams see out games like this, creating a solid defensive block and taking what the opponent gives them. As substitutes joined the fray from both benches, the Galaxy maintained a solid low to mid-block defensive shape, daring Colorado to come at them, the threat of a lethal counter-attack lurking to capitalize on any mistakes.
Colorado threatened, Mihailovic forcing a sharp save from McCarthy in the seventy-eighth minute, but the Galaxy held firm, patient enough to keep the Rapids at bay. Puig, Pec, and substitute winger Diego Fagundez all slotted into the defensive shape, defending the penalty area.
In the first minute of stoppage time, Puig put the game to bed. On for Nelson, Galaxy left-back Julian Aude intercepted a pass, playing quickly to Gaston Brugman, Delgado’s replacement. Brugman poked the ball to Pec, who stroked a diagonal through ball to striker Miguel Berry, Jovelic’s substitute.
Meanwhile, Puig set out on a lung-busting run from his defensive position in the penalty area to join Berry at the top of the box. Berry slipped the ball to Puig, who duplicated his first goal with another curler into the bottom right corner, 3-1 Galaxy, game over. The Galaxy employed the same patient counter-attack with substitute players on the road, at altitude, against a team playing for home-field advantage in the playoffs.
But for one blood-rush moment by Pec, the Galaxy revived flashbacks in the minds of its loyal fans to those championship teams of yore. It’s the little things that make good teams into champions.
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