LA Galaxy Midfiedler Riqui Puig has been named to Major League Soccer's Team of the Matchday for Matchday 36 following his two-goal performance in the Galaxy's 3-1 win at the Colorado Rapids.
Puig's brace brings the Galaxy's No. 10 to 13 goals in the 2024 MLS Regular Season to accompany his 14 assists in 31 games played. The 25-year-old was instrumental in the Galaxy's come-from-behind performance in Colorado after LA trailed 1-0 at halftime. After the tying goal by Gabriel Pec, Puig finished off a counterattack with a curling strike to the bottom corner to put the Galaxy ahead. Then in stoppage time, Puig put the game away with his second goal, once more off of a counterattack with a similar composed curler.
Head Coach Greg Vanney praised Puig's performance following the comeback win: "As you guys have seen, he's one of the best players if not the best player in the league at being able to pick up the ball and get himself facing forward. Sometimes we open it up so he can drop a little lower and pick it up, look through the lines and then guys are finding him as he's moving forward and now he's back on the ball but on the other side of the midfield and driving the attack in that way. I think the commitment for him on those long attacks to then ride into that secondary space for the cutback or for something to set him up and getting himself into that box or the top of box gives him those goal-scoring chances he was able to come up with."
Puig last made the MLS Team of the Matchday during Matchday 32, when he was joined by forward Dejan Joveljić and Vanney as the Team of the Matchday coach.
Forward Gabriel Pec, who made the Team of the Matchday for Matchday 34 and won the MLS Player of the Matchday honor for the same week, landed on the bench for Matchday 36 after his one-goal and one-assist outing in Colorado. Pec is now at 14 goals and 14 assists in his debut season in MLS with the Galaxy.
Following the win in Colordao, the Galaxy sit atop the Western Conference with 61 points from 32 games played, six points ahead of LAFC at 55 points after 31 games played.
F: Lionel Messi (MIA), Josef Martínez (MTL), Karol Swiderski (CLT)
M: Riqui Puig (LA), Hernán López (SJ), Gabriel Pirani (DC), Albert Rusnák (SEA)
D: John Tolkin (RBNY), Erik Sviatchenko (HOU), Mitja Ilenič (NYC)
GK: Brad Stuver (ATX)
Coach: Tata Martino (MIA)
Bench: Dayne St. Clair (MIN), Coco Carrasquilla (HOU), Santiago Rodríguez (NYC), Hany Mukhtar (NSH), Pep Biel (CLT), Lewis Morgan (RBNY), Denis Bouanga (LAFC), Gabriel Pec (LA), Luis Muriel (ORL)
