CARSON — The Galaxy returned to the MLS playoffs with a dominant night Saturday.
Facing a Colorado Rapids team that it had defeated twice in the regular season, the Galaxy took a one-goal lead into halftime, then erupted for four goals in the second half to secure a 5-0 rout in front of 24,537 at Dignity Health Sports Park.
“Really pleased with the response over the course this week and coming into this match and the guys responded well,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said.
The second game of the best-of-three series is Friday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Colorado. If a third game is necessary, it would be Nov. 9 back at DHSP. If the Galaxy wraps up the series Friday, it would have nearly a three-week wait before the start of the conference semifinals.
That was far from the players’ mind Saturday.
Dejan Joveljić opened the scoring in the 32nd minute, giving the Galaxy a 1-0 lead at halftime. On the other side of the half, the Galaxy put the game away quickly. In the 52nd minute, John Nelson got forward and scored. Two minutes later, Riqui Puig, assisted by Joveljić, got on the score sheet.
“First half was a little bit bogged down, they had a lot of numbers underneath the ball and I felt like we weren’t building enough speed to really penetrate and break it down, but we were able to get the set piece goal, which was fantastic,” Vanney said. “They had to make some decisions at halftime, whether they were going to start releasing guys out to press the ball or hold in numbers behind.
“We did a good job of being patient in the right moments and then being vertical and being direct and really attacking in the right moments. I thought it was a very clean performance and probably one of the best (of the season) …and at a good time.”
Joveljić added his second goal of the night, scoring in the 75th minute. Then in the 87th minute, Puig added his second goal for a 5-0 lead.
The Galaxy finished second in the Western Conference, losing the top seed on goal differential with LAFC. The second seed is the highest for the Galaxy since 2014, the year of the club’s last MLS Cup victory.
The Galaxy won both meetings against the Rapids in the regular season, a 3-2 win on July 17 at home and then 3-1 on Oct. 2 in Colorado. Despite that success, Galaxy coach Greg Vanney didn’t expect his team to overlook the Rapids.
“Just because you’re home doesn’t mean there’s any guarantees, you’ve got to show up with the right intensity, you’ve got to execute in key moments, you’ve got to do a lot of things right, in the playoffs to advance,” Vanney said Thursday. “To me, the message is take nothing for granted just because we’re at home against a team we’ve beat recently, doesn’t mean that we won the game.”
While the attack was buzzing through the Rapids’ defense, the Galaxy didn’t allow the Colorado attack any clear or true opportunities. Colorado didn’t have a shot on goal, while the Galaxy was credited with nine.
The Galaxy’s win in Colorado earlier this month its the first there since 2017.
“We’re going to have a tougher Colorado team in Colorado, we know that coming on Friday,” Vanney said. “We have to be prepared and not think that we did anything more than just win one game tonight (Saturday.)”
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