Nine minutes was all that the Los Angeles Galaxy needed on Saturday night.
With is collective back to the wall in its quest for the playoffs, the LA Galaxy used a key nine-minute stretch in the first half to assert themselves against the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night. First half goals from Brugman, Raheem Edwards, and Chicharito paced the Galaxy, and despite finishing the match with only 10 men, saw through to an eventual 4-1 win at Dignity Health Sports Park.
“I think we are more solid and we’re more of a unit,” Brugman said. “I think today we had a good signal after a really bad loss to Vancouver. The team is alive and I think it’s dependent on us. We have three finals to play and we’ll give it our best.”
Brugman’s first half goal was part of a big night for the Uruguayan midfielder, who had a brace on the night. The Galaxy’s other mid-season high profile signing, Riqui Puig, also had a big night, as he had three assists, the first player since Landon Donovan to have three assists in a game. More importantly, the Galaxy (12-12-7, 43 points), move above the playoff line past Real Salt Lake, who lost to FC Cincinnati. Both the Galaxy and Salt Lake are tied on points, but the Galaxy currently get the seventh spot due to have one more win than RSL.
“We’re in a position, certainly it’s a much better position than we were at the beginning of the night, so we’ll take it,” Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney said. “We still have a lot of work to do it front of us and make sure that we’re focused on that. Again, for us, it’s just one game at a time, and one play at a time. And I thought, tonight, we did a nice job of handling all of that.”
The Galaxy got going starting in the 22nd minute. Grandsir split the Colorado defense with a perfect through ball, Brugman chased the ball down, then one-timed a shot past keeper William Yarbrough into the back net to get the Galaxy on the board.
The Galaxy were just getting started. Edwards doubled the Galaxy lead in the 26th minute, as he dribbled down the left side of the field on the overlapping run, Edwards dribbled into the penalty area, fked a shot that brought Jack Price to the ground, then fired a shot on goal that beat Yarbrough far post. The Galaxy capped off its first-half run in the 31st minute, as Grandsir dribbled down the right side, crossed into the six-yard box and Chicharito back-heeled a ball past Yarbrough into the back net.
The Galaxy did not let up in the second half, pushing across a fourth goal in the 52nd minute, as Brugman fired a right-footed volley past Yarbrough into the upper right corner. The only down spot for the Galaxy in the match came in the 62nd minute. A scuffled developed into a shoving match, and during the fracas, Douglas Costa shoved Felipe Gutierrez in the face. When all was sorted out, Costa was sent off with a straight red card and a yellow card for the Rapids’ Michael Barrios, which meant the Rapids would be playing with the man advantage the rest of the match. The Galaxy though made sure the Rapids didn’t take advantage of the advantage, wearing them down until the 90th minute, when Sam Nicholson scored on a point-blank shot inside the penalty area, but the match had already been well decided.
“Today it was much more purposeful, it was much more intense” Vanney said. “When we played between the lines. When we faced forward. Making runs forward. We were putting pressure on their back line. With the speed at which we were moving, we were much more purposeful with our possession rather than just keeping possession.”
The Galaxy continues its playoff push next Saturday, as it plays its annual match with the San Jose Earthquakes at Stanford Stadium.
