MLS Cup is a chance for a team's stars to shine at their brightest but when the LA Galaxy host the New York Red Bulls in MLS' biggest match on Saturday, they'll be without their biggest star in the middle in Riqui Puig. During the Galaxy's 1-0 victory over the Seattle Sounders, Puig tore his ACL and continued to play the remainder of the game on one leg. While it was a display of grit to make it through the match, Gregg Vanney and the Galaxy now have to figure out how to create chances.
Puig had 13 goals and 15 assists during the season before stepping things up with four goals and three assists in the MLS Cup Playoffs prior to his injury. At the center of everything, he's an irreplaceable presence but one that Vanney will have to plan to be without for only the sixth time this season.
Without Puig during five matches of the regular season, the Galaxy were able to win three of those scoring eight goals and allowing four but this challenge is different due to the press that the Red Bulls employ, something that Puig is able to exploit, leading a counter-attack. The closest team to the Red Bulls that the Galaxy faced without Puig was St. Louis City SC and that was the sole loss without their talisman.
"Riqui, first and foremost, he's the ultimate competitor. He wants to win, he wants to compete, he wants to play, he wants to impact the game and he wants responsibility of the field," Vanney said about Puig's impact. "He drives the team in many ways, when you look at the stat sheet on any given day he's probably touched the ball 120 to 140 times and he'll lead the team in touches by a good margin because he wants to win and he wants to impact the game.
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"We'll miss that on the attacking side for sure as someone who can change the tempo of the game like this, and any play in any given moment can be the one that changes the game when you have a guy like Riqui because of his capacity to pull all kinds of plays off and do things like that. We're going to miss him on the defensive side of things. As much as anything, he's someone who is an intelligent defender about his position but more than anything he's someone that the opposition has to account for in transition because the team is so good in transitioning through him, so they have to be mindful of Riqui when they have the ball."
When adding all that up, it's clear how hard it would be to replace Puig and the one player who may be able to do it is also nursing an injury in Marco Reus. Joining the Galaxy midseason, the former Borussia Dortmund man hasn't been able to get much going for the team and is currently day-to-day with a groin injury.
The Galaxy will give Reus every chance to contribute in this match because his attacking prowess could be a game-breaker, similar to Gareth Bale scoring the critical goal to level the match for Los Angeles FC in their MLS Cup triumph in 2022. Big matches call for big-game players and Reus, even at 35, still falls into that category.
Without Reus, that's when Marco Delgado, who was on the bench against the Sounders, would be the next man up. Usually called upon to take charge in deeper areas of the pitch, it's a bit of a different role for him but being someone who played for Vanney when he was head coach of Toronto FC, this duo is able to get the best out of each other no matter what the occasion is.
It's this understanding and flexibility that have gotten the Galaxy to this point in the season as even without Puig, the Red Bulls will need to deal with Joseph Paintsil, Gabriel Pec, and Dejan Joveljic who are all fearsome attackers in their own right. Vanney will have his team prepared for the moment and with Puig out, there's also the element that the Galaxy want to bring home the trophy for their man.
"We have to move forward, the game stops for no one and we just gotta sort it out and you know that's Greg [Vanney's] job and we'll see how that goes but we're definitely gonna miss Riqui out there," Delgado said. "Our heart is with him and it gives us another reason to go out there and give it our all for him."
These moments can bring a team together and it's clear that the Galaxy trust in Vanney's ideas. Of course, the Red Bulls will be doing everything that they can to combat that but all that the Galaxy can do is focus on their game and do the best they can to bring home a trophy for Puig.
LA Galaxy predicted XI: John McCarthy, John Nelson, Maya Yoshida, Carlos Garces, Miki Yamane, Edwin Cerrillo, Gaston Brugman, Marco Delgado, Joseph Paintsil, Gabriel Pec, Dejan Joveljic
How to watch and odds
- Date: Saturday, Dec. 7 | Time: 4 p.m. ET
- Location: Dignity Health Sporting Park -- Carson, California
- TV: Fox | Live stream: Fubo TV (Try for free)
- Odds: LA Galaxy -140; Draw +400; New York Red Bulls +340
