Making their first Western Conference final appearance in a decade, the Los Angeles Galaxy welcome the Seattle Sounders to Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday.
It will be the first time these teams meet at this stage of the MLS Cup playoffs since 2014, with LA ousting Minnesota United 6-2 last weekend and the Rave Green surprising Los Angeles FC 2-1 in extra time.
Match preview
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There is an old saying that defence wins championships, but the Galaxy are disproving that theory at this stage of the 2024 post-season.
LA are a game away from their first MLS Cup final appearance in 10 years, outscoring their opponents by a combined margin of 15-3 in just three playoff contests this season.
Greg Vanney's side have been dominant at home throughout the campaign, winning nine consecutive games in Carson and netting multiple times on each occasion.
The Galaxy have set a new club record for the most goals scored in their opening three post-season affairs while boasting a 33-4-1 record all-time at home in the playoffs.
Only once in their last seven conference final appearances have they been defeated, losing 3-0 to Dallas at Dignity Health Sports Park in 2010.
LA have won two of their previous three home fixtures against Seattle across all competitions, claiming a 1-0 victory the last time out in March.
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Having the bulk of the possession did not work well for Seattle in the conference semi-finals last year, but a minor change in approach at that stage this year did the trick.
The Sounders had just 51% of the possession while conceding 10 efforts on target versus LAFC last weekend but managed to hold down the fort somehow, thanks to some outstanding recoveries, strong goalkeeping from Stefan Frei and a little luck.
Regardless of how they got here, the Rave Green are in the conference finals for the first time since 2020, having advanced beyond this phase in their previous four appearances.
Defensive commitment has been a staple of this team under Brian Schmetzer, with the Sounders conceding a goal or fewer in their last seven MLS contests.
They have won two of their previous three away matches in the post-season but have not won a road playoff game in 90 minutes since the 2019 conference final against LAFC (3-1).
Saturday will be the fourth time these teams meet in the playoffs, with the Rave Green being eliminated in all three of those prior instances, losing each encounter away from home.
Team News
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For this upcoming match, the Galaxy will be missing Martin Caceres, who is still dealing with an Achilles injury, while Marco Reus made his first career playoff start last weekend in place of Mark Delgado.
Gabriel Pec, Dejan Joveljic and Joseph Paintsil each netted twice in the victory over Minnesota, marking the first time in MLS post-season history that three players scored a brace in the same game.
In the victory over LAFC, the Sounders did not have Nouhou Tolo available due to an illness, Paul Rothrock was sidelined with a knock, Jacob Castro sat out because of an adductor injury and Cody Baker was in concussion protocol.
Maxime Chanot gifted the Sounders an equaliser with an own-goal just before the hour mark last weekend, with Jordan Morris notching the winner in extra time.
Los Angeles Galaxy possible starting lineup:
McCarthy; Yamane, Garces, Yoshida, Nelson; Reus, Cerrillo, Puig; Pec, Joveljic, Paintsil
Seattle Sounders possible starting lineup:
Frei; A. Roldan, Gomez Andrade, Ragen, Tolo; Vargas, Paulo; De la Vega, Rusnak, C. Roldan; Morris
We say: Los Angeles Galaxy 3-1 Seattle Sounders
The Galaxy always seem to bait teams into playing their way, while they have plenty of attacking solutions when that does not happen, all of which should enable them to advance into the MLS Cup final.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
