Three takeaways from the LA Galaxy's 3-1 victory in Vancouver
The LA Galaxy sits at the top of the Western Conference following the win against the Whitecaps
The LA Galaxy defeated the Vancouver Whitecaps Saturday night to go top of the Western Conference and be tied for the Supporters Sheild with Miami and New York Red Bulls.
After a first half filled with half-chances and lots of possession, LA got on the scoresheet first through Dejan Joveljic. The Serbian scored his sixth goal of the season by tapping in a rebound from Gabriel Pec’s shot on goal in the 57th minute of the match.
The Whitecaps made sure to expose the Galaxy’s biggest weakness, set-piece defending. Brian White rose above the rest to win a header from a corner kick and direct it into the back of the net. That goal marks the seventh set-piece goal the Galaxy has given up through eight games this season.
Joseph Paintsil took over for the LA Galaxy as he broke the tie and finished his one-on-one chance against Vancouver goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka in the 80th minute. Riqui Puig’s excellent through ball found Paintsil who was running in behind into open space.
The Ghanian then played the role of provider setting up Diego Fagundez’s 82nd minute goal. Fagundez became the 10th player in MLS history to record 70 goals and 70 assists.
The Galaxy’s two wins on the road this season already match last season’s tally away from home. In terms of points, the 2023 LA Galaxy only mustered 12 points on the road while the 2024 team currently has 10 through four games. Here are three big takeaways from LA’s win in the Great White North.
Painstil’s Growing MVP Case
MLS released a graphic earlier in the week naming the top contenders for the 2024 Landon Donovan MLS MVP Award - Painstil was the Galaxy’s lone representative on the list. His two-goal contribution in Vancouver performance solidified he was worthy of being on that list.
Painstil started this game playing close to Pec on the right-hand side where a majority of the Galaxy’s came from in the first half. It was nice to see the two players combine often and use their pace to get into the box but it produced no high-quality chances. It wasn’t until Painstil was instructed to play as the sole right winger that he became deadly.
“Me playing at the right side, it's something that I've always been playing also in my ex-team. It's something that I'm used to,” said Paintsil to reporters after the game.
“You can see that we are also playing [against] three backs but what we needed to do is just to pin the defenders and be in between them, as me and Dejan to pin them so that they cannot move forward, so that we can have the space to run behind them,” added Paintsil.
Paintsil has found success in that role and his pace in behind allows the Galaxy to be direct. Puig’s passes had the perfect amount of weight for Paintsil to run for and get on the end of.
When I asked Paintsil about being among the MVP front runners, he emphasized wanting to see the collective team succeed first rather than his individual success.
“My focus is really with the team. Whatever happens with MVP, goals and assists and everything, first it's the team, and the more the team succeeds, the more the player succeeds,” expressed Paintsil.
“Being there and finding my name there is a plus for me and makes me happy and makes me work harder, especially working harder for the club is the most important thing to achieve what we need to achieve. “
Riqui’s Reminder
The last two LA Galaxy matches saw more criticism being discussed around Puig than praise. The Spaniard’s performance in Vancouver gave everyone a reminder of his positive effect on the team and the quality he brings to elevate the Galaxy’s attack.
Puig simplified his game in a way on Saturday night - not looking to play risky passes between lines, taking simple passes to connect the midfield, and playing long balls to keep possession flowing. This kept the Galaxy moving at a faster pace on the ball and forced the Whitecaps press to grow gradually unorganized
“The moments where we dribbled to find solutions were fewer and far between, and the ball movement was much more the key to the day; and if we can do that, as I said to these guys, I don't think there's many teams that can play as fast as we can and get the speed of the game going as fast as we can,” said Vanney postgame.
Puig’s passes to Paintsil to set up LA’s last two goals were a beauty to watch. The vision and placement of the pass were elite. Few players in MLS can make it look so simple and easy.
“Having Riqui and the rest of them behind Riqui, it's really amazing. And as you can see as time goes on, the points are really becoming stronger and stronger and you can see in today's game, also we dominated and we had all the balls and did what we have to do as a team and what the coach really told us to do, that's exactly what we did,” Painstil told the media.
Puig’s performance in Vancouver was a good reminder of the quality present in the midfield and how he orchestrates the Galaxy’s front line.
LA’s Backline Hero
In my match preview, I highlighted the goalkeeper battle as one of the x-factors for the game. John McCarthy’s six-save performance kept LA in the game and was crucial in holding onto their lead. The American goalkeeper is showing his consistency with back-to-back performances to prevent the Galaxy from being down by a bigger deficits on the road.
“I think any time you're on the road, there's going to be moments when you need your keeper to come up with a save or two or three. And certainly, for us, John has done a good job of doing that and a great job in the last couple weeks. And tonight, he made a couple big saves, that one in particular, and then, turns into the transition that leads to the goal, which is massive,” said Vanney postgame.
“I'm really happy with what he’s been able to do and what he’s able to bring to our group. Leadership and presence behind the back line is so important and it's nice to have him back there.”
There was also the element of luck on McCarthy’s side during the game. In the second half, his long ball attempt was blocked outside of the penalty box and he was able hustle back and get a save diving into the penalty box to prevent White from scoring in the 61st minute.
McCarthy’s saves have been a key factor in the LA Galaxy’s 3-1-1 record on the road this season. His vocal leadership has been valuable as the backline navigates changes and other obstacles. There still needs to be improvement defending dead ball situations but McCarthy is content seeing the rest of his teammates putting in the work away from home.
“Our road mentality, obviously we are trying to be very competitive, compete, stick to the game plan, and buy in as a collective group and I think you see that in this group. Everyone puts a shift in. Whether somebody has to run back and make a 90-minute clearance or somebody has to step up and score a goal from us,” McCarhty told reporters.
“There's a lot of good guys on this team. It's a great group and we are really a collective group come together.”