CARSON, Calif. – As talent-laden as the LA Galaxy’s 2024 roster is, the most important goal of their season arrived via a preordained sequence, a product of careful collective work on the training ground more than any individual stroke of brilliance.
That’s what Joseph Paintsil revealed of his early strike in Saturday’s MLS Cup presented by Audi triumph over New York Red Bulls, the game’s opening goal – and a massive factor in the home side’s eventual 2-1 victory, considering RBNY had scored first in every victory on their unexpected Audi MLS Cup Playoffs run, empowering their defend-and-counter tactical approach.
“The goal was already something that is really planned,” Paintsil told MLSsoccer.com in the happy chaos of the Galaxy’s locker room postgame, a Ghanaian flag wrapped around his waist.
The winger had drifted centrally, then surged into open space behind the Red Bulls’ advanced back line as surprise hero Gastón Brugman – making his first start since Oct. 5 – exchanged quick passes with his midfield colleague Edwin Cerrillo, Brugman assisting Paintsil’s low finish under Carlos Coronel with a slide-rule through ball into the penalty box.
In mere seconds, and with mere minutes elapsed on the game clock, the Galaxy had pried open RBNY’s organized defense, seizing an advantage they ultimately never relinquished.
“Gaston was a captain. He knows what to do,” said Paintsil. “Even in training, he always gives us the energy. So Gaston already knows what he needs to do even though Riqui [Puig] was not there. And as you can see, he delivered."
To further vindicate head coach Greg Vanney’s selection of Brugman and Mark Delgado as LA’s twin No. 8s absent Best XI playmaker Puig, Delgado would soon play provider on Dejan Joveljić’s game-winning goal.
“Because Gaston knows there is space, and he knows even with a blind pass, I will always be there. We did it in training, and it really resulted in the first goal,” explained Paintsil. “And as you can see, also with Dejan also having the space also to shoot from a difficult distance, it was also Mark giving the [assist].
“We have to bring this intensity and the challenges. Because without the hard work and the challenges, it would have been something bad for us. But we did our best fight for the second balls, and then we just dominated it.”
New York rallied to cut the deficit and made the Gs sweat right until the end, but Paintsil emphasized the power of the plan laid out by Vanney & Co.
“Yeah, it's really important,” he said of the early lead, “because the two goals made us really like in the game, and we had the belief that we're going to score more. We had some chances, they also had some chances, but yeah, we dominated more. [RBNY], we knew that they're not going to play football, they're always going to put the ball behind, and we were really ready for them, so we really handled them with care.
“The shift of momentum was really a little bit difficult for us, especially when they came out with 2-1, [but] we did what we need to do,” he added. “We need a defensive mindset from now, because all they had to do was just to kick the [long] balls and just fight on the second balls. But we did everything in training, and what we expected them to do, that's what they did.”
Paintsil will be ready to perform again on Sunday – this time with his voice.
A budding Afrobeat musician in his spare time, Paintsil dropped a new song called ‘Blessings’ a few days ago and his teammates quickly picked up the track, playing and singing it as the Gs claimed the Western Conference title last weekend. He had hinted in the leadup to the Cup final that he might perform his song if the Galaxy won, and with the Galaxy inviting their fans back to Dignity Health Sports Park for a Sunday afternoon celebration to commemorate their MLS-best sixth league championship, the winger said he's all in.
“I feel really blessed. It goes also with my song, so it's really amazing and a good feeling now,” said Paintsil, who also won a league title at his previous club, Belgium’s Genk.
Asked about the Galaxy finally breaking their 10-year trophy drought, he was exultant.
“It's really special because 10 years is a really big gap, and we succeeding and winning the Cup now, we are not going to talk about the 10 years now. Now we start from this year, so it's just amazing and we keep going,” he said, after pointing to the dramatic impact he, Puig and right-sided wing counterpart Gabriel Pec, dubbed “the Killa Ps,” have made.
“In the beginning was a lot of doubt from other sides. You know, people were like, we are not going to succeed. People were talking bad about us. But yeah, what God has really done, nobody can really destroy,” said Paintsil. “And I know that since we came in the face of LA Galaxy, everything changes with me, Riqui and Pec and everybody. Our offense was great and defense was also great; the team really did their job. And as you can see, we are the best in the league, in West and also in the Cup, just only 10 months that we are here.”
