Ending ten years of drought, the Los Angeles Galaxy defeated the New York Red Bulls in the U.S. League final (MLS) this Saturday 2-1 and lifted the sixth trophy in its history.
The Angel team, who played as a local, won goals by Ghanaian Joseph Paintsil in the 9th minute, passing Uruguayan Gaston Brugman, and Serbian Dejan Jovelji in 13, while American Sean Nealis was discounted for the visitors in 28.
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The Galaxy, which enlarges its status as the most laureate franchise of the MLS, completed its resurrection in playoffs in which Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami was eliminated in the first round.
The Angel franchise, which last year was left out of the playoffs, overcame the bottom of its current leader, Spaniard Riqui Puig, to seize its first trophy since 2014.
Puig, the talented mid pointer trained in Barcelona, was diagnosed with a serious knee injury after he played injured for more than half an hour in the semifinals and gave the goal pass of the triumph.
Paintsil and Jovelji dedicated the goals to him by raising the uniform with the number 10 of the Spaniard.
Red Bulls, who also failed to inaugurate their showcase in their second lost final, also suffered the low key of Colombian defense Andres Reyes, who fell from the initial eleven due to a problem in the warm-up.
The stands of Dignity Health Sports Park (Carson, California), crowded with 26,812 spectators celebrated the Galaxy’s first title since the glory days of the last decade, in which they founded a dynasty with idols such as David Beckham, Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan.
Since then he has been far from the final despite the hiring of figures such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Steven Gerrard and Javier Chicharito Hernandez.
After the journey in the desert, he now adds a new trophy to those of 2002, 2005, 2011, 2012, and 2014, and enlarges his advantage with DC United, which won four titles in the 29 years of MLS history.
The final began with a surprise in the line-up, with Uruguayan Gaston Brugman as a relay from Puig in place of veteran German flyer Marco Reus, the former Borussia Dortmund star.
Brugman soon took a fabulous Riqui Puig-style assist out of the joke for the early local goal.
The former Empoli and Oviedo midfielder received the ball between the lines and leaked a delicious pass to the arrival of Paintsil, who scored below the body of Brazilian Carlos Coronel.
The New York lag had a hard time adapting to the last-minute descent of Colombian Reyes and only four minutes granted all the facilities for Serbian Jovelji’s to advance unopposedly to the area and convert 2-0.
Riqui Puig, honored by his companions in the celebrations, smiled and thanked from the stands.
The Galaxy continued to create danger, especially with those interned by the right of the Brazilian end Gabriel Pec, the best signing of the year in the MLS.
The visitors’s reaction came through the aerial threat. Swede Emil Forsberg, the team figure, kicked a corner that, after several rebounds, went to the defense of Sean Nealis, who controlled with his chest and finished the net.
In the second half, the visitors took control of the ball but the Galaxy came close to making him pay for the spaces he left in the rear.
Forsberg had the Red Bulls’s big chance in his boots to tie when he shot the stick in a counter-coup in the 72.
The New York team, a surprise guest of this final as seventh-seeded in the Eastern Conference, had already lost on this same stage the duel for the 2008 title against Columbus Crew.
