Galaxy shut out by Seattle in semifinals of Leagues Cup

The galaxy, stumbling in the worst season of the long history of the franchise, turned to the League Cup, a tournament with a small pedigree and no real story, to save the year.

And for a large part of the one-month competition that worked, the Galaxy cruising in the semi-finals of the undefeated tournament. But the reality and the Spenders of Seattle caught up with them on Wednesday, when the goals of Pedro de la Vega and Osaze de Rosario gave Seattle a 2-0 victory and a place in the final of the League Cup on Sunday against Lionel Messi and Inter Miami.

The Galaxy, on the other hand, will have to refocus quickly because they welcome Orlando City, a 3-1 loser in the other semi-final, in the third Sunday match where a place in the CONCACAF champions cup next season will go to the winner

“It would have been an excellent heritage for this group, which had a very difficult season, to be able to say that they won a trophy,” said Galaxy coach Greg Vanney. “”[Sunday’s] The game is certainly our last opportunity to withdraw something from this season and it is the place of the Champions League. With the galaxy, we want to play in tournaments like the Champions League.

“It is therefore our opportunity in what was a very difficult season, to withdraw something.”

Qualifying for the best Confederation club competition would be a considerable achievement for the Galaxy, which is the last in Table MLS nine months after winning their sixth League title. But they played like another team from the League Cup, unbeaten emerging from the group game, where they faced three Liga MX teams, then eliminating Mexico Pachuca in the quarterfinals. And through the quarter -finals, they scored three goals per game, more than double their average in MLS.

It ended on Wednesday when the Galaxy faced an MLS rival for the first time in the tournament.

“Against an opposition that does not make mistakes, we made mistakes,” said Vanney. “They are simply physically strong in all positions. Durable, strong, athletic, competitive.

“For me, the two goals are fair, you cannot abandon these goals if you plan to win a championship or even go to the championship. You can’t.”

The Sounders have lost a short time to take control, going in front of the goal of de la Vega in the seventh minute and never looking back.

“When you abandon the goal early in Seattle, it is one of their great strengths: being just stable and solid on the defensive,” said Vanney. “Against opponents of the Mexican League, they tried to put pressure, but I thought that in certain regions of the field, we had physical matches that we could win. Tonight, we had trouble winning certain areas on the ground.”

The score of the Vega was the fifth unanswered goal, Seattle scored in two games in Dignity Health Sports Park since its closure during the final of the West Conference last fall. But it would not be the last with Rosario’s physique doubling the heads of the Sounders with a splendid lens 12 minutes after the start of the second half, heading for a pass in the area, lifting it on his head with his right foot, then making his way through the defenders of Galaxy John Nelson, Zanka and Maya Yoshida before beat Galaxy Keeper Novak Micovic The advantage of the Edge of the Six-Yard Box.

Micovic deserved a night better when he was forced at a summit of six stops and obtained little aid from his defenders. However, his performance was better than that of the Mexican referee Adonai Escobedo, who had a hard time controlling the match.

Escobedo has made good use of the Var to correct a missed call in the last 10 minutes of regulation, however, expelling the defender of Seattle Nouhou Tolo for an approximate challenge and forcing the Sounders to see the victory with 10 men.

At the other end, the Seattle goalkeeper, Andrew Thomas, made four stops to empty the galaxy at home for the second time in 17 days.

Now comes Orlando City who, unfortunately for the Galaxy, is an MLS team. But if the galaxy can get out of the consolation match with a berth of the Champions Cup, it would count as a victory in what was a lost season otherwise.

“There is still a lot to play,” said Vanney. “So I think we should see it because it is our only opportunity to save something. We have to be mature enough to bounce back and put our heads back on our shoulders and take our mentons and go there.

“You want to win the championship. It was priority and it was the mission. But the next match is another final. There is something to win, right? There is something to withdraw. And as long as there is something to withdraw, it’s a final.”