When the halftime whistle blew in Saturday’s El Trafico match between the L.A. Galaxy and Los Angeles FC, the temper in Dignity Well being Sports activities Park was grim.
The Galaxy, the house workforce on this cross-city duel, was down 2-0 to its native rivals and regarded prefer it had no concept tips on how to cease the skid. It was the identical previous story: the groups had already met twice this season and LAFC had come out on prime each occasions.
By the point the full-time whistle blew 45 minutes later, the match had been flipped on its head. The Galaxy pulled off a miraculous second half comeback to seal a 4-2 win in entrance of a raucous sell-out crowd, and each single one in every of its passes within the remaining minutes acquired celebratory chants of ‘olé’.
The victory sealed the Galaxy’s place within the 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs and put them seven factors clear on the highest of the Western Convention.
“Right this moment we’ve demonstrated that we will win MLS,” Galaxy midfielder Riqui Puig said after the match. “We performed an important recreation and we deserve it.”
It was Puig who proved to be the difference-maker for the Galaxy, racking up two assists and one objective within the second half to encourage his workforce’s turnaround.
His efficiency was one of many strongest single-half shows by any participant in MLS this season. He introduced fireplace, grit and power to the Galaxy entrance line to assist it recuperate from its dire first half efficiency.
In hindsight, it was all the time going to be Puig. Generally known as the “small madman” in his youth soccer days, Puig got here up via La Masia, Barcelona’s well-known academy, and was tapped as a future blaugrana (FC Barcelona) star at a younger age. He earned plaudits from a number of the recreation’s finest for his fiery shows on the youth workforce.
“It is a spectacle to look at gamers like him play,” said Gennaro Gattuso, Italian World Cup winner, after teaching AC Milan in a recreation towards Puig’s Barcelona again in 2018, by way of marca.com. “He is received a child’s face, however he has soccer inside. It is one thing that I marvel at.”
However Puig’s Barcelona future wasn’t to be. Coach Xavi Hernandez sat Puig down in 2022 and let him know that he had no area for him in his Barcelona lineup. Puig got here to the L.A. Galaxy a couple of weeks later with an comprehensible chip on his shoulder.
The “small madman” was now mad, interval—and he had a degree to show to everybody in Spain who did not suppose he might make it within the large time.
Puig took it out his anger on the sector. He shortly grew to become one in every of MLS’s most inventive and versatile gamers, racking up spectacular statistics throughout the board: he leads the league in ball touches and accomplished passes and cracks the highest 10 in targets, assists and pictures.
He is backed up his fiery popularity with actual performances on the sector, and his bravura efficiency towards LAFC proves it.
The Galaxy’s El Trafico victory was as cathartic for the group because it was for Puig. As soon as the clear prime canine in MLS with 5 Cups to their identify, the Galaxy fell apart below former president Chris Klein. Sadly for the Galaxy, the decline lined up completely with the arrival of cross-town rivals LAFC in MLS in 2018.
LAFC stormed out of the blocks and regarded aggressive from its debut season. It is racked up extra trophies and extra remaining appearances than the Galaxy within the time since. From 2018 to the current, the Galaxy went from being the most effective workforce within the nation to not even being the most effective workforce in Los Angeles. It has been a tricky tablet to swallow for longtime supporters.
Latest backroom modifications begat outcomes, although, and this El Trafico victory is a small signal that the steadiness of energy in Los Angeles may be shifting again within the Galaxy’s route.
With Puig in fantastic kind and thrilling gamers like Brazil’s Gabriel Pec, Ghana’s Joseph Paintsil, Serbia’s Dejan Joveljic and Germany’s Marco Reus backing him up, the Galaxy appear like actual contenders for the 2024 MLS Cup.
Puig could not keep in MLS perpetually. He nonetheless has ambitions of returning to Europe to play within the Champions League and reside nearer to his household. However he is discovered a house in Los Angeles—and most significantly, he is discovered a membership the place he is appreciated and liked.
Two years in the past, Puig was deemed superfluous to Barcelona’s necessities. Final evening, Puig snatched MLS headlines away from Lionel Messi, arguably Barcelona’s greatest-ever participant, by displaying up when it counted towards LAFC.
Puig and the Galaxy have been made for one another. Because the MLS calendar approaches the postseason, they could be made for a trophy, too.
The Galaxy continues its MLS season on Wednesday towards the Portland Timbers.
