Joseph Paintsil and Dejan Joveljic scored in the opening 13 minutes to give the Galaxy a 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls Saturday in the MLS Cup at Dignity Health Sports Park.
The championship increased the Galaxy’s record total to six. They were making their record 10th MLS Cup appearance and first since 2014 when they defeated the New England Revolution, 2-1, in overtime.
“After 10 years, to win again, it’s very special feeling,” Joveljic told Fox Sports. “Even before the season, I said that we have a different team — young, hungry guys who are ready to fight for this club. We deserve this 100%. And we are going to win it again.”
Defender Sean Nealis scored for the Red Bulls in the 28th minute.
Galaxy goalkeeper John McCarthy made four saves, including stopping Cameron Harper’s shot in the 85th minute and Elias Manoel’s header five minutes into second-half stoppage time to preserve the lead.
Paintsil sprinted past the New York defense to collect a pass from Gastón Brugman and rolled a shot from about 10 yards out past goalkeeper Carlos Coronel in the eighth minute. Edwin Cerrillo was also credited with an assist.
Joveljic controlled a header from Mark Delgado about eight yards past the half-way line, drove to near the penalty spot and put a left-footed shot past Coronel.
The scoring sequence on the Red Bulls’ goal began with Emil Forsberg’s corner kick which was headed away by Galaxy defender Maya Yoshida. After the Galaxy was unable to clear the ball, it went to Nealis, who put a shot from near the penalty spot inside the right goalpost.
Brugman was selected as the MVP.
Both teams took 12 shots. The Galaxy led 6-5 in shots on goal. New York took six corner kicks to the Galaxy’s four before a sold-out crowd announced at 26,812.
Coronel made four saves.
The Galaxy won despite the absence of their best player, midfielder Riqui Puig, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the second half of last Saturday’s Western Conference Final. He continued to play for more than 30 minutes and provided the game-winning assist on Joveljic’s 85th-minute goal in the 1-0 victory over Seattle Sounders FC.
Puig was selected for the MLS Best XI after scoring 13 goals and leading the team with 15 assists in 29 regular-season games. He was among four players in the league with at least 13 goals scored and 15 assists.
He also led the league in touches (2,847), passes attempted (2,847), passes completed (2,497), fouls suffered (83) and multi-assist performances (6).
In the playoffs, Puig had four goals and three assists.
After missing the playoffs three of the past four seasons, the Galaxy tied Los Angeles FC for first in the 14-team Western Conference with an 19-8-7 record, but were seeded second because their plus-19 goal differential was one less than LAFC’s.
The Galaxy then defeated seventh-seeded Colorado, two games to none, in the best-of-three first round before a 6-2 victory over sixth-seeded Minnesota United in the conference semifinals and the win over Seattle in the conference final.
The Galaxy were 17-0-4 in all competitions at Dignity Health Sports Park in 2024, including winning their last 15 games.
This was the second time the Red Bulls reached the MLS Cup. They lost to the Columbus Crew, 3-1, in 2008 at the then-Home Depot Center, now Dignity Health Sports Park, when the game was played at neutral sites.
New York was 11-9-14 in the regular season and seeded seventh in the Eastern Conference. They defeated second-seeded Columbus, two games to none, in the first round, sixth-seeded New York City FC, 2-0, in an Eastern Conference semifinal and fourth-seeded Orlando City, 1-0, in the Eastern Conference final to become the lowest seeded team to reach the MLS Cup.