Who wins the West? LA Galaxy LAFC or RSL?
Seven match days remaining. The race to finish atop the West is coming down to the wire.
It’d be nice if one of the Galaxy, LAFC or RSL could nab the Supporters Shield, but barring a complete collapse by Inter Miami CF, that piece of silverware is heading to Fort Lauderdale.
That being said, whoever wins the conference likely makes it to MLS Cup. Inter Miami is looking scary especially once Lionel Messi returns, but they haven’t played particularly good football despite their success and are vulnerable to a knockout round exit. Should that occur, hosting MLS Cup is potentially up for grabs.
Can Marco Reus be a game changer during El Trafico? Photo courtesy LA Galaxy
LA Galaxy: 52 points, 6 games left
Remaining schedule: LAFC, @ Portland, Vancouver, @ Colorado, Austin, @ Houston
Greg Vanney’s group stand alone atop the table for now, though LAFC and RSL have games in hand. More concerning are the slate of matches to close out the regular season.
It’s a gauntlet. I would expect LA to win…two of those matches? The rest are dogfights. Three road matches against Western Conference playoff teams in adverse environments will certainly test the group’s resolve. Portland and Colorado have only lost twice at home all season and LA traditionally struggle with the elements in Houston this time of year.
Of course El Trafico is infamously difficult to predict, however the odds slightly favor the team from downtown LA heading into Saturday. Riqui Puig has yet to record a single chance created in three matches but he’ll have Marco Reus alongside him to help unlock the LAFC defense. Losing Joseph Paintsil to yellow card accumulation is a big miss, but I suspect Steven Cherundolo’s going to set up in a low block which based on past performances would likely nullify his impact anyway.
Skyline view at BMO Stadium
LAFC: 48 points, 8 games left
Remaining schedule: @ Galaxy, Austin, @ Dallas, Kansas City, @ Cincinnati, St. Louis, @ Kansas City, @ Vancouver, San Jose
Speaking of Steven Cherundolo, Los Angeles Football Club lined up in a 4-4-2 diamond as the Black and Gold battled to a scoreless draw in Houston over the weekend. Not a bad result considering the team was missing key pieces in attack and the formation change.
LAFC are likely in the best position as things stand. Denis Bouanga and company feast on weaker sides and the majority of their matches are ones they should take all three points from. Btw, this is taking into consideration Olivier Giroud’s slow start in Los Angeles. (There’s always an inherent danger in assuming older DPs can just show up and plug and play into a new system without any hiccups? Some pundits might have gotten carried away thinking he would tear up MLS from the get-go. Zlatan may have told Giroud this is a striker’s league, but he probably didn’t mention the Galaxy attack ran through him as well, which isn’t the case in DTLA)
Crucially, going into El Trafico all the pressure is on the Galaxy. The onus will be on the Blue White and Gold to break down LAFC’s formidable defense, who have proven they can sit back, absorb pressure and ruthlessly tear teams apart in transition.
I didn't feel like bugging RSL so enjoy the Utah sign
Real Salt Lake: 47 points, 7 games remaining
Schedule: @ Houston, Dallas, Portland, @ Austin, Minnesota, @ San Jose, Vancouver
For the first two-thirds of the season, RSL darn near had a perfect run. The Cobalt-and-Claret have a way of controlling the pitch with superior technical and physical ability, combine that with the resilient spirit Pablo Maestroni’s instilled in the group and you have the makings of a side that went on a prolonged tear including a 15-game unbeaten streak at one point. They led the Western Conference for four months straight.
But all teams face major adversity at some point. When Chicho Arango was hit with a four match suspension in July for violating the league’s Anti-Harassment policy followed by the sale of influential winger Andrés Gómez a month later, that adversity finally reared its ugly head. (Chicho hasn’t scored since)
To paraphrase David Gass of Soccerwise, the attack likely took half a step back by losing Andres. While his explosive pace will be missed, the hope is the summer reinforcements headlined by DP signing Diogo Goncalves can seamlessly fit into the game model. The good news is, the early returns are promising.
It also helps Salt Lake has the easiest schedule of all three contenders. Traveling to Houston sucks for a team that can’t buy a win vs. the Dynamo, but afterwards? Four of the final six are at America First Field and the two road matches are extremely winnable. If Pablo Mastroeni’s men take it one game at a time while growing in confidence and chemistry every week, they can sneak atop the West with all the momentum necessary to make a run at MLS Cup. A draw during El Trafico would be huge.
The only caveat? Bad teams are plenty capable of pulling off upsets at the tail end of the season. Interim coaches, new signings, any number of variables can add unpredictability which usually favors the opponent. We saw this a few weeks ago when RSL were shut out by last place San Jose in a 2-0 defeat.
May the best team win.