The Galaxy, stumbling through the worst season in the franchise’s long history, have looked to the Leagues Cup, a tournament with little pedigree and no real history, to salvage the year.
And for much of the monthlong competition that worked, with the Galaxy cruising into the tournament semifinals unbeaten. But reality and the Seattle Sounders caught up with them Wednesday, when goals from Pedro de la Vega and Osaze De Rosario gave Seattle a 2-0 victory and a spot in Sunday’s Leagues Cup final against Lionel Messi and Inter Miami.
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The Galaxy, meanwhile, will have to refocus quickly since they play host to Orlando City, a 3-1 loser in the other semifinal, in Sunday’s third-place game where a berth in next season’s CONCACAF Champions Cup will go to the winner.
“It would have been a great legacy for this group, who’s had a very difficult season, to be able to say they won a trophy,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “[Sunday’s] game is certainly our last opportunity to take something out of this season and that’s the Champions League spot. With the Galaxy, we want to be playing in the tournaments like Champions League.
“So this is our opportunity in what has been a very difficult season, to take something away from it.”
Qualifying for the confederation’s top club competition would be a considerable accomplishment for the Galaxy, who are last in the MLS table nine months after winning their sixth league title. But they’ve played like another team in the Leagues Cup, emerging unbeaten from group play, where they faced three Liga MX teams, then eliminating Mexico’s Pachuca in the quarterfinals. And through the quarterfinals, they were scoring three goals a game, more than double their average in MLS.
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That came to an end Wednesday when the Galaxy faced an MLS rival for the first time in the tournament.
“Against an opposition that doesn’t make mistakes, we made mistakes,” Vanney said. “They’re just physically strong in every position. Durable, strong, athletic, competitive.
“For me the two goals are just, you can’t give up those goals if you are planning on winning a championship or even advancing to the championship. You just can’t.”
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The Sounders wasted little time taking control, going in front on de la Vega’s goal in the seventh minute and never looking back.
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“When you give up the goal early to Seattle, that’s one of their great strengths: just being defensively stable and solid,” Vanney said. “Against the Mexican league opponents, they tried to press but I thought in certain areas of the field, we had physical matchups that we could win. Tonight, we had a hard time winning certain areas of the field.”
De la Vega’s score was the fifth unanswered goal Seattle has scored in two games at Dignity Health Sports Park since being shut out in last fall’s Western Conference final. But it wouldn’t be the last with the physical De Rosario doubling the Sounders’ lead with a splendid goal 12 minutes into the second half, heading down a pass in the box, lifting it back over his head with his right foot, then bulling his way through Galaxy defenders John Nelson, Zanka and Maya Yoshida before beating Galaxy keeper Novak Micovic cleanly from the edge of the six-yard box.
Micovic deserved better on a night when he was forced into a season-high six saves and got little help from his defenders. Still his performance was better than that of Mexican referee Adonai Escobedo, who struggled to control the match.
Escobedo did make good use of VAR to correct a missed call in the final 10 minutes of regulation, however, expelling Seattle defender Nouhou Tolo for a rough challenge and forcing the Sounders to see out the victory with 10 men.
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On the other end, Seattle keeper Andrew Thomas made four saves to blank the Galaxy out at home for the second time in 17 days.
Now comes Orlando City, which, unfortunately for the Galaxy, is an MLS team. But if the Galaxy can come out of the consolation match with a Champions Cup berth, that would count as a win in what has otherwise been a lost season.
“There’s still a lot to play for,” Vanney said. “So I think we should see it as it’s our only opportunity to salvage something. We have to be mature enough to bounce back and put our heads back on our shoulders and pick up our chins and get after it.
“You want to win the championship. That was the priority and that was the mission. But the next game, is another final. There’s something to win, right? There’s something to take out of it. And as long as there’s something to take out of it, it’s a final.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.