Luc Niren
Athletics Story
Staff Reporter
The LA Galaxy have stormed back in this 2024 season to heights no one could have imagined, after finding themselves near the bottom of the table last year.
On Sept. 14, 2024, the five-time Major League Soccer (the top tier of soccer in the USA and Canada) champions LA Galaxy clinched their position in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs with a 4-2 comeback victory over rivals LAFC, after finishing 13th in the Western Conference one season ago.
Star players Riqui Puig, Gabriel Pec, Joseph Paintsil and German legend Marco Reus helped lead the way in El Trafico (the name for the rivalry between LAFC and the LA Galaxy). The Galaxy was trailing 2-0 at halftime and scored four goals in the second half to pull off the comeback. This was just the beginning of the challenges the Galaxy would be facing on this long road to the MLS Cup.
The Galaxy were coming off a miserable 2023 MLS Season, finishing in thirteenth place in the Western Conference, their worst finishing position in the team’s history. They conceded 67 goals, the most in the MLS that season, nobody knew what would happen the following season so everybody was shocked at what happened this year.
Through the first ten games of the season, the Galaxy had five wins, three ties and two losses. The Galaxy had loaded up their team during the offseason signing Ghanaian Winger, Joseph Painstil and Brazilian stud, Gabriel Pec. Painstil, Pec, Riqui, Puig, and rising striker Dejan Joveljic were playing amazing and leading this roster to an electric start!
The Galaxy continued to dominate and when the All Star Game rolled around on July 24, 2024, the Galaxy were first in the Western Conference with a record of fourteen wins, seven ties and five losses with 49 points. During the July and August international break for the 2024 European Championships, the Galaxy signed German legend Marco Reus, who immediately made a clear, positive impact on the team.
Through the final eight games of the season, the Galaxy had five wins, zero ties and three losses. Their three losses resulted in them finishing in second place in the Western Conference, with rivals LAFC taking first on a tiebreaker. Riqui Puig, Gabriel Pec and Joseph Painstil are known as the Killer P’s by Galaxy fans, and had no shortage of goal contributions during the season. The three players combined to score 39 out of the 68 goals scored by the Galaxy and Dejan Joveljic contributing with 15 of his own.
Marco Reus, who had only played six out of the eight remaining games the Galaxy had, with one goal and two assists in those six games. The Galaxy’s goalkeeper, John McCarthy, made 172 saves during the season and had a save percentage of 75%.
Millikan AP Physics teacher, Mr. Lopez said that he is an LAFC fan, which is the Galaxy’s rival and he did not know any information about the Galaxy’s season. An Instagram poll by the Millikan Corydon, confirmed LA Galaxy with 63% of the total watched LA Galaxy… of the votes saying that they did not watch the LA Galaxy.
The Galaxy made it to the MLS Cup Final, beating the Colorado Rapids, Minnesota United FC and the Seattle Sounders in the Conference Final 1-0 with a late goal from Dejan Joveljic. The final was on Dec. 7, with the Galaxy beating the New York Red Bulls 2-1, giving the Galaxy their 6th MLS Championship. The 2024 season for the Galaxy was truly one to remember.
