Vanney aims to wrap up playoff tie after LA Galaxy´s ´best performance´ against Rapids

Greg Vanney will hope for a repeat of LA Galaxy’s five-star victory in game one that represented “one of their best” performances to wrap up his MLS playoff clash with Colorado Rapids in two games.

Vanney’s tactical masterplan saw Galaxy triumph 5-0 at home as they restricted Colorado to just one shot and an expected goals (xG) total of 0.03 while accumulating 2.46 xG themselves.

The LA Galaxy boss made his name at Toronto FC, where he won the MLS Cup as well as three Eastern Conference playoff titles. When he resigned in 2020, it was Colorado’s Chris Armas who took up the mantle but did not fare as well.

Early indications of their meeting in the playoffs suggest Vanney is proving his knack for success remains and is winning the battle of the ex-Toronto bosses.

“I thought it was a very clean performance, and probably one of the best. I can’t remember all 34 at this point, 35 now, but it was definitely one of the best ones, I think, and at a good time,” Vanney reflected on the performance post-match.

LA Galaxy had emerged victorious in both prior meetings this season, but neither time had they managed to keep a clean sheet. Yet in game one, Armas’ side struggled to even penetrate their box with just 10 touches inside it all game.

“[Vanney] has been great, and he has a lot of experience. This week was everything. In the playoffs, we need to set the tone and set the intensity. He did that right from, not just this week, but of course [because of] playoffs, training was intense,” said goalscorer John Nelson.

“Defensively, we needed to do that, and that’s what he talked about the whole week. Like you saw tonight, we were relentless. We were fouling. We weren’t giving them anything.

“So the whole week’s focus was to counter-press defensively, and we know we’re going to score goals. We showed that tonight.”

Armas will need to find a way to beat his Toronto predecessor in a must-win game for his side at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, owing to the best-of-three playoff format.

5 performance pic.twitter.com/A5rNXW8sRJ

— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) October 27, 2024

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Colorado Rapids – Djordje Mihailovic

If the Rapids are to take the match back to LA Galaxy for a decider, they will need goals and Mihailovic will be crucial. He boasts the second-most goals scored for Colorado (11) in the MLS, only four behind top scorer Rafael Navarro.

He is also their top assister (10), meaning he has the most goal contributions on the squad (21). Distribution is clearly a strong point as he has more than double the number of key passes (87) than any other Rapids player – Cole Bassett comes closest on 35.

LA Galaxy – Dejan Joveljic

Galaxy’s top scorer, Joveljic, has 17 goals in the MLS so far this season and has also delivered the lowest minutes per goal (118.6). He will surely hope to add to the tally when he travels to Colorado.

He was on target in game one as he and Riqui Puig each scored twice in Galaxy’s win over Colorado.

It makes them the third pair of Galaxy teammates to each score twice in a playoff game, along with Cobi Jones and Carlos Ruiz in 2002 and Carlos Hermosillo and Danny Pena in 1998.

MATCH PREDICTION – LA GALAXY WIN

Galaxy have won each of their three meetings with Colorado this season, including the 5-0 win in Game One on Saturday.

Prior to that, Galaxy had won only one of their 11 matches against the Rapids between 2018 and 2023 (D3 L7).

That 5-0 win was only the seventh win by a margin of at least five goals in MLS Cup playoff history. It was the third of those by Galaxy, who also beat Dallas, 6-1, in 1998 and defeated Real Salt Lake, 5-0, in 2014.

Colorado were held to just one shot in their 5-0 loss to Galaxy. It was the first time this century that the Rapids had only one shot in an MLS match, regular season or playoffs.

The hosts are a team out of form and have lost five straight matches dating back to the regular season, with two of those defeats coming against Galaxy.

Prior to this drought, however, the Rapids had lost just three of their previous 13 regular-season matches dating back to the middle of June (W9 D1).

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Colorado Rapids – 32.5%

Draw – 25.5%

LA Galaxy – 42.0%