LOS ANGELES (Wednesday, October 2, 2024) – Playing the first of two matches in the span of four days, the LA Galaxy earned a 3-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Wednesday night. Gabriel Pec and Riqui Puig each recorded goals as LA maintained its lead atop the Western Conference standings to six points ahead of the second-place team.
LA Galaxy Against Colorado Rapids
Tonight’s match marked the 95th all-time meeting across all competitions between the LA Galaxy and the Colorado Rapids, with LA now leading the series 48-34-13. In the first meeting between the two teams during the 2024 campaign, LA earned a 3-2 win over Colorado at Dignity Health Sports Park on July 17. In 41 all-time league matches played on the road against the Rapids, the Galaxy hold a 13-21-7 record. This is the LA Galaxy’s first win on the road against Colorado since June 21, 2017.
History Making Galaxy
The Galaxy are the first team in MLS history with four players to have scored 10 or more goals in the same season (Dejan Joveljić: 14 goals, 5 assists; Joseph Paintsil: 10 goals, 10 assists; Gabriel Pec: 14 goals, 14 assists; Riqui Puig: 13 goals, 14 assists). The 2024 LA Galaxy are just the second team in MLS history to have three players record 10 plus goals and 10 plus assists in the same season, joining the 1998 Los Angeles Galaxy (Mauricio Cienfuegos: 13 goals, 16 assists; Cobi Jones: 19 goals, 13 assists; Welton: 17 goals, 11 assists). Additionally, Paintsil and Pec are the first-ever pair of teammates to record 10 plus goals and 10 plus assists in their inaugural season in MLS.
Galaxy Goals
LA Goal – Gabriel Pec, 49th minute: Assist: M. Delgado
LA Goal – Riqui Puig, 57th minute: Assist: Gabriel Pec
LA Goal – Riqui Puig, 90th minute: Assist: Miguel Berry
Postgame Notes
- By defeating the Colorado Rapids tonight, the LA Galaxy have eclipsed 60 points in a season for the first time since 2014 (61) and just the third time in the post-shootout era (67 in 2011).
- Wednesday’s match marks the 95th all-time meeting across all competitions between the LA Galaxy and the Colorado Rapids, with LA now leading the series 48-34-13.
- LA Galaxy have scored 15 goals in the last 15 minutes of the second half, only Colorado Rapids (16) and Portland Timbers (16) have scored more in MLS this season.
- Gabriel Pec assisted his 14th goal in MLS this season this match, more than any other LA Galaxy player, after scoring his 14th goal in his debut MLS season.
- LA Galaxy scored 18 goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half, more than any other team in MLS this season.
- LA Galaxy have scored in each of their last 8 games in MLS, scoring 22 goals in that run.
- Tonight was Mark Delgado’s 100th career appearance across all competitions for the LA Galaxy.
Next Game
Next up, the LA Galaxy are back home at Dignity Health Sports Park where to face Austin FC on Saturday, Oct. 5 (7:30 p.m. PT, MLS Season Pass).
2024 MLS Regular Season
LA Galaxy (18-7-7, 61 pts) vs. Colorado Rapids (15-12-5, 50 pts)
Goals by Half 1 2 F
LA Galaxy 0 3 3
Colorado Rapids 1 0 1
Scoring Summary:
CO: Ronan, 45
LA: Pec, 50
LA: Puig, 58
LA: Puig, 90+1
Misconduct Summary:
CO: D. Mihailović (caution), 60
LA: M. Delgado (caution), 72
All statistics contained in this box score are unofficial
LA GALAXY POSTGAME QUOTES
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH GREG VANNEY
On the second half of tonight's game:
"I thought the press was giving us a difficult time. I think we were in the spots they were expecting us to be in and they were at times willing just to go man on man at times, and others, I think based on our positioning, they were just very comfortable with where we were at. Getting to halftime, the idea was to adjust some of our rotations so that we were showing up in such predictable places and we knew how we could scramble that a little bit for lack of a better word. So that they would be in between things and once we are in between against a pressing team moving forward, you can play through their lines and then it becomes -- they are in big trouble. I thought we did a nice job in our movements in the second half. Miki (Yamane) started a little wider and came inside versus just starting inside. There were some really good actions where we were able to get ourselves facing forward and then we found the guys in between the lines that then put the attacks into speed. And so some really good execution on some of those breaks where we were able to get in behind their pressure, and then also get some transitions. There were a couple more, Dejan (Joveljić) off the top of my head, one or two more where we missed Joe (Joseph Paintsil) on a couple really good runs and we hit the defender or we just missed him when he could have been in for one or two. Really good. And the guys, we talked about halftime just applying it and finding the solutions to the game, and I think capitalizing on the moments. And then defensively in the second half we loaded up the back line a little bit and kept them really from us as much as possible, and set ourselves up for some transitions, some breaks and see if we could do as we did the third. Proud of the guys. Not an easy place to play. They are a team that's had a success through the course of the year. A great win for us on the road and now looking forward to going home on the weekend."
On Riqui Puig:
"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. I think part of the thing that's really helping him is the movement of the guys ahead of them are also creating some really difficult decisions for the defenders and then Riqui is reading off of their decision. Dejan (Joveljić) made a great run that kind of froze the center back when Riqui cut back to the inside and passes it to the post. There's movement by the group of them that makes the decision-making a little bit easier for Riqui but obviously what he's able to do in terms of changing the speed of the game and getting himself facing forward and now moving with the ball, it's special. So we've seen that. We're going to keep building on it. It's a risk/reward for teams. If they want to press us and they find a solution, there's a lot of danger on the other side. If you want to sit low, right, you run the risk of defending a low block for long periods of time. Depending on what the game is and what the opposition is bringing to us, we have to find the solution. Today it took us till halftime to really find a solution but we found it and then we capitalized."
On taking time to get away and coaching this season:
"We all know, last year was just dealing with a lot of things. It was the perfect storm of events and challenges and everything else, and so the visit to England as separating and getting away and not being here and not being around and going and watching games, it was almost just to try to clear my mind in many ways of things that were going on. And then the role sort of shifts and getting out of some of the things we were doing last year, I was doing last year and just focusing on the team and our players and stuff. I'm in the office working with the coaches. I'm downstairs talking to players. I'm not up in this meeting and that meeting everywhere else at the moment and talking about things that is not necessarily about winning games, it's about other things, and now I'm focused on that. It's been nice coaching and it's a great group of players. We picked up the players in the off-season that we talked about that really fit into the style and mode of things that we want to do. And then this whole season has been trying to help mold and breed our guys and mold them into the group that we feel can be the best group we can be and hopefully a contender for championships and hopefully we can close this thing out and win the west. When you're winning, it makes everything better. That's the short answer. When you're winning, everything is better than when you're not. But things with this group, it's nice. It's nice to work with these guys. They are hungry and want to be successful and as you can see we adapt a little bit at half time, take it on and run with. It when you have teams that are able to do that, be successful, it's fun to coach teams like that because you see ideas come to fruition that you want to see. It's been nice."
On closing games:
"It's really what we've been talking about since I've been talking with media, you guys all and the same thing. It's just the end of the game sort of decisions, especially we did the work to get ourselves up 2-1. For us, it's a fine line between absorbing pressure and setting up our transition game which I think is one of the best in the League, but making sure that we are committing to bogging things down and recovering balls on the defensive side and protecting ourselves, while also keeping guys in positions where they can really punish you when we get out of situations and build speed and really get the third goal which we're able to today. The piece that I liked, once we got that third goal specifically and I felt at times we rushed things but when we got the third goal there was long stretches of us really defending in possession. The opposition couldn't get close. It's demoralizing when they can't get the ball and they are down and they know they have to get the ball to score. I thought we did a great job in stretches where we were defending and killing the game in possession, not having to do that necessarily defending at the top of our box, and that's something as a group, we have to take pride in because I think that to be honest it could be one of our greatest strengths defensively is keeping the ball away from the other team and forcing them to have to figure out how to get it. We did a nice job of that in stretches tonight for sure."
On Marco Reus' availability for Saturday's game:
"I'll get an update on what he accomplished today on the field. We'll see when he gets through the next couple of days and we'll make a decision going into the weekend. I'm not sure. What I will tell you is we're not going to push him into something we don't need to push him into, that's for sure. On the other side of this, we have basically another international break, a match that then leads us into the playoffs. No matter what, he will absolutely be ready for Houston based on what's going on right now. I'd say it's really day-to-day. We'll see for Saturday. And just keep moving him forward. But I know he's on the field and he's doing stuff. So it will be just kind of a day-to-day, see how he progresses over the next couple days."
On potentially clinching the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference at home:
"I think it's great. Just we've got a great record and we've performed well at home all year. As I said, that's a community thing. I think that's the fans and the environment and the atmosphere that's created in the stadium, and that's the guys coming out and doing the business on the field that feeds back into that and get the crowd excited and going. The relationship between the energy back-and-forth has been really good. We as a group have capitalized on that in terms of being at home. Our goal is to close out the regular season in a positive way and give the fans that Western Conference that I know they would love to celebrate, especially after the challenges they also endured last year with the rest of us. And then see out the rest of the regular season, and really lock it in. With the way we performed in the regular season, it ensures us a lot of home games as long as we can keep advancing in the playoffs, and that's also a tribute to them and the relationship on and off the field that we've been able to establish in the stadium. So trying to close it out the right way and then look forward to playoff games at home in our stadium with our fans there."
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER RIQUI PUIG
On momentum building:
"I think that we are playing really good. We need to improve some things, I think in the defensive area, but I think that the strength of team is in the counterattack, it really is in a high level. I think that we have a really good connection, and I think that the last maybe six, seven games, we have three losses that we lost away, but I think that today the first half, not really good, but the second half, I think that we come back really good and we enjoy a lot this second half."
On enjoying playing with this team:
"I think that we do always our job, and I think that this year we have really good pieces and we have really good transfers. I make a lot of assists and goals. I think it's one of my best seasons (since) I start playing soccer. But like you say, when you enjoy, I think that you can feel inside the field that all together and all the team are like enjoying together, and we're like making really good performance and that's really good for us, and also for Galaxy."
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER MARK DELGADO
On 100th career appearance across all competitions for the LA Galaxy and second half of tonight's game:
"Yeah, it's been a long way coming. I always try to get my own every time I have an opportunity to show up, I try to show up. So just being able to stay healthy and being able to represent this club. Yeah, so a hundred games, went by pretty quick. Time flies by. Happy it was with this club. I was able to make a hundred appearances or a hundred starts, whatever it is. Definitely a big achievement for me personally. And then on another note in the second half, I think we missed, given the altitude and everything, I think we were just able to wiggle out of a little bit more things, keep the ball moving. Trust the other person with the ball and just keep the ball moving, whereas in the first half, things were a little tight if they were man marking us one-on-one. I think the second half we did that and just let the ball move ail quicker. Spaces started to open and we were able to expose those spaces and move forward, as I'm sure you can see from the outside. And then just on the inside, they just couldn't figure it out. They were having trouble, and they wanted to press like in the first half, and we just played right through with a little one, two and third man. That was huge and they just couldn't figure it out the second half."
On the team's edge and ability to win:
"I think it's just taking in every play. Seeing out every play, not getting too comfortable. Always being attentive to what could possibly happen. During one play, another play could happen. Seeing things before they happen, and just being ready to bounce on that and just be that much more ahead than the opponent and that much more, you know, intense first and winning your battles and that more connected with the guy next to you and communicating things and making sure they don't happen again. It's all these little details that take you to the next level, and if you could do that for 90-plus minutes in every game, you're sitting pretty. Even if you go down a goal, I'm sure with the quality we have and just keeping all of this together, we can definitely bounce back."
On the club not winning a match in Colorado in seven years heading into tonight's game:
"I had no idea about that. I think it's just a tough place to play with the altitude and given that, not the greatest place to play. The atmosphere and everything is not the greatest. You just go through the motions and stuff like that. But given the timing of we're towards the end of the season, every game matters, you know, these games matter going into playoffs. We definitely want to take that into account. Even though it was quite dead and quite quiet before the game during warmups, we definitely pushed each other and had each other ready to go when the whistle would blow and I think that's the difference. Especially the timing and coming close to the end of the year, everything matters that much more. Just cleaning up and not making mistakes, cleaning things up, playing well. You know, all of that carries over into the playoffs, especially my experience, all of these games matter going into the playoffs, the momentum really matters."
On the team being undefeated at home and potentially clinching the top seed in the Western Conference this Saturday at Dignity Health Sports Park:
"It's very exciting. It's something that we always take a lot of pride in. Taking three points at home is always something we should do. We have taken a lot of pride in that. It's just very exciting and I'm sure the whole group can't wait. So given how long the years been, and how many games we have played and the travel and everything, we definitely have grinded all our butts off, everybody, from front to back, coming off the bench, the guys are working in hard in training to be ready when called upon. It's definitely exciting and rewarding. It's all the good feels. We're excited for that to come."
