The Los Angeles Galaxy beat the New York Red Bulls 2-1 at home to win the 2024 MLS Cup. It’s the team’s record-setting sixth MLS title and its first in a decade.
The game was decided in the opening 20 minutes, when Los Angeles took advantage of a late New York scratch. (Central defender Andres Reyes withdrew from the squad after warmups due to illness.) With last-minute substitute Noah Eile unaccustomed to playing Reyes’ role, Los Angeles knew its biggest scoring opportunities would come quickly. It danced circles around Eile while he struggled to find his footing.
Joseph Paintsil scored the opening goal nine minutes in, followed by a beauty from Dejan Joveljic at 13 minutes.
Sean Nealis scored for the Red Bulls at 28 minutes, but that would be the final goal of the match.
Los Angeles made the MLS Cup final by holding the ball and charging forward with abandon; New York made it by rejecting the ball, holding a strong defensive shape and forcing its opponents to find a way through. There was every reason to believe that the two teams would revert to type during this match, but instead, they did the opposite.
Los Angeles, protecting an early two-goal lead, sat back and absorbed New York’s pressure, while New York wound up posting a >50% ball possession stat for the first time in this postseason.
Neither team looked particularly comfortable with this switch. In the end, it was Los Angeles — the home team and the clear favorite before a ball was kicked — that made fewer mistakes on the night, and that was enough to clinch its record-setting sixth MLS Cup.
The Los Angeles Galaxy is an MLS original — one of the oldest franchise in the league and easily the most successful. The origins of the Galaxy namesake are hazy; some believe the name came from Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, while others believe it honored the observatories of the team’s early Pasadena home.
But whatever the intentions were, they didn’t last. The team began signing big-name athletes and called itself the Galaxy for its constellation of soccer stars. Cobi Jones. Landon Donovan. David Beckham. Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Long before Lionel Messi, long before the Fab Four, long before Inter Miami was even a proposal binder sitting on league commissioner Don Garber’s desk, the Galaxy was MLS’s undisputed celebrity team.
This modern Galaxy, though, is something different. It muddled through a full decade outside of the MLS spotlight, losing its luster — and its local dominance — to upstart rival Los Angeles FC. The Galaxy finished the 2023 season in 26th place among 29 MLS teams, plagued by fan protests and staged walkouts over the abysmal state of its front office.
In a heartwarming win for that fan-led action, the Galaxy responded to 2023 by making big changes. It dropped its controversial president Chris Klein, brought in new scouts and got to work. The Galaxy took a chance on raw talent over established stardom, and that chance paid off handsomely. Led by Spain’s Riqui Puig, Brazil’s Gabriel Pec, Ghana’s Joseph Paintsil and Serbia’s Dejan Joveljic, the team became appointment viewing for MLS fans at every stage of the season. There was no Cobi Jones, no Landon Donovan, no David Beckham, no Zlatan Ibrahimovic. For once, the Galaxy didn’t need that crutch.
It was thrilling to watch the Galaxy hire big-name stars in its heyday. But it’s far more thrilling to watch this modern Galaxy make big-name stars of its own. It earned the 2024 MLS Cup fair and square and finishes the season as the league’s deserved champion.
MLS will return to action with a brand-new season in February 2025.
