2024 MLS Cup Final: What To Expect
by Bradley Gibbs | by Tyler Doty
MLS Cup Final: Los Angeles Galaxy vs Seattle Sounders
Is it surprising to see the Los Angeles Galaxy competing for MLS Cup glory? Despite not reaching this stage of the playoffs in a decade, the answer is a resounding no. All season long, the team coached by Greg Vanney has performed like an MLS Cup winner, especially in the final third, often devastating opposition defenses.
Can the same be said for the Red Bulls? Definitely not, especially as they limped over the line in terms of making the playoffs. Given that they won just one of their final nine games of the regular season, I’ll be the first to admit that I expected the Red Bulls’ postseason journey to be a short one. Needless to say, I was wrong.
The long road to the cup
For the Galaxy, the playoffs began with a best-of-three series against the Colorado Rapids, which turned out to be anything but testing for a team that went through the Rapids defense like a hot knife through butter, wrapping the series up in swift and convincing fashion thanks to 5-0 and 4-1 wins.
Up next was a one-game-only Western Conference semi-final against a Minnesota United that was hopeful of posing more problems. The Loons did ask a few more questions than the Rapids, scoring twice at Dignity Health Sports Park, but they were just as powerless to stop Galaxy’s offensive rampage, conceding six goals.
In the Western Conference Final, up against a Seattle Sounders team that can grind out results, it wasn’t such plain sailing for Vanney’s men, who had to work very hard to get the win, but get the win they did, courtesy of an 85th minute strike from Dejan Joveljic.
LA Galaxy 2024 play-offs results summary:
Defeated Colorado Rapids 5-0 (home)
Defeated Colorado Rapids 4-1 (away)
Defeated Minnesota United 6-2 (home)
Defeated Seattle Sounders 1-0 (home)
Moving on to Saturday’s visitors. Up against a rampant-looking Columbus Crew in the best-of-three series, there seemed to be little hope for Sandro Schwarz’s men, but they managed to navigate their way through, not only winning but keeping an unlikely clean sheet at Lower.com Field.
Having won on the road in Columbus, a 2-2 tie at Red Bull Arena followed, before the men in red emerged victorious on penalties.
Their elimination of the Crew set up a conference semi final against rivals NYCFC at Yankee Stadium, and again, they looked up against it, though thanks to a wondrous first-half strike from Felipe Carballo, before Dante Vanzeir poked home from close range to seal the deal.
Next up was an Eastern Conference Final against Orlando, who were strong favorites to progress, but once again, Schwarz and his troops caused an upset, defying the odds to win by a goal to nil, with Andres Reyes scoring the only goal of the game.
New York Red Bulls 2024 play-offs results summary:
Defeated Columbus Crew 1-0 (away)
Tied with Columbus Crew 2-2, before winning on penalties (home)
Defeated NYCFC 2-0 (away)
Defeated Orlando 1-0 (away)
What should we expect on Saturday night?
On home soil, the hosts are a team that can score lots of goals, while they’ve opted for an offensive approach all season long. On the one hand, it’s foolish to think that they’d change that now, but on the other, this is no ordinary fixture. The luxury of playing on home soil brings with it added pressure, as does the fact that they’re the ones who come here with the best regular-season record.
Given the magnitude of this game, and with the pressure very much on the hosts, it’s easy to feel that they may take a more low-key approach, which is exactly what the visitors will opt for.
In Emile Forsberg and Lewis Morgan, the Red Bulls definitely have a couple of game-winners in their forward line, make no mistake about that, but they’ll need to keep things very tight before they can think about utilizing their difference-makers. If they go all guns blazing, then the Galaxy will simply wipe the floor with them, as the Loons experienced.
Sandro Schwarz knows that his team have got this far thanks to their ability to dig in and frustrate, and I’d be willing to bet good money that he’s not about to veer from that at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday.
Match Info:
TV Broadcast: Apple TV
Time: 4:00 p.m. EST (1:00 p.m. local time)
Date: Saturday, December 7th, 2024
Venue: Dignity Health Sports Park (Carson, California)
