In a team sport no player is irreplaceable. But for the Galaxy, Riqui Puig comes close.
Puig, the playmaker and leader of one of the most potent attacks in franchise history, will miss Saturday’s MLS Cup final with the New York Red Bulls at Dignity Health Sports Park after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in last weekend’s Western Conference final with Seattle. He will undergo surgery soon and is expected to be out until next summer at least.
And that leaves the Galaxy searching for a replacement for their most irreplaceable player.
“We’re definitely going to miss Riqui,” midfielder Mark Delgado said Tuesday. “Special player. He just brings something completely different that nobody can really bring.
“We just have to move forward. The game stops for no one and we just have to sort it out. And that’s Greg’s job.”
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Greg would be coach Greg Vanney, who was guarded in how he might alter his lineup in Puig’s absence Saturday. When Puig was unavailable during the regular season, Vanney used Marco Reus and Diego Fagúndez in his place. But Reus is dealing with a nagging groin issue and Fagúndez hasn’t started a game or played more than 17 minutes in one since mid-September. Other options include Delgado and Gastón Brugman.
“It’s going to be a different type of player than Riqui,” Vanney said. “Marco, we’ll see how his health is as the week progresses. Diego gives us a little bit of the option that we saw before. I also look at the Red Bulls [and] see them as a little bit of a unique competitor because of their pressing.
“We’re working through, talking through, the right personnel to try to approach the game.”
The Red Bulls, 11-14-9 in the regular season, finished seventh in the Eastern Conference table but went on a run in the playoffs, sweeping the defending MLS champion Columbus Crew in the best-of-three first round, then shutting out New York City and Orlando City in elimination games to become the lowest-seeded team ever to reach the Cup final.
The Red Bulls, who won just two of their final 14 regular-season games, dating to June 22, have given up only two goals in the postseason, with goalkeeper Carlos Coronel pitching three shutouts and making 19 saves.
The only team to finish the regular season with a losing record before winning the league title was Real Salt Lake (11-12-7), which beat the Galaxy on penalty kicks in 2009. The Red Bulls, an original MLS team, have never won the MLS Cup, losing the only final in which it played in 2008. That game was also played in Carson.
Improving their chances in this one is the fact that the Galaxy won’t have Puig, who scored a career-high 13 goals and had a team-high 15 assists in the regular season, the 28 goal contributions in 29 games ranking 10th in MLS. He also led the league in touches and passes, making him the motor of the only team in MLS history to have four players finish with 10 or more goals.
And he was even better in the playoffs, scoring four goals and getting three assists, contributing to the scoring in all four Galaxy wins. Including playoffs, Puig has had a goal or assist in 12 of his last 15 MLS games dating to mid-July.
The Galaxy had a winning record in the five MLS games Puig missed this season, going 3-1-1, but the team averaged just 1.6 goals in those five games as opposed to 2.33 when Puig played.
Puig torn the ligament in his left knee early in the second half of Saturday’s conference final on a non-contact play.
In the 60th minute, Seattle’s Cristian Roldan brought Puig down with a heavy tackle just outside the Sounders’ penalty area, drawing a yellow card and leaving Puig writhing on the ground and clutching his left knee. Puig eventually made his way to the Galaxy bench, where he was briefly attended to by trainer Cesar Roldan, Cristian’s brother.
But three minutes after the Roldan tackle, while racing Seattle’s Pedro de la Vega for a loose ball, Puig’s left leg gave way and he went down untouched. That was when the injury occurred although Puig played on, setting up Dejan Joveljic’s game-winning goal in the 85th minute.
“It was a pretty straightforward ACL tear,” Vanney said. “I think, given the moment, the adrenaline, the competitor inside of him, I don’t know if he completely knew that.
“He felt like his knee was a little unstable, he felt some clicking. But he didn’t necessarily hear or feel like a pop, which sometimes is an indication. I actually didn’t even know that he had a knee issue.”
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It was obvious he was ailing; late in the game, after planting on his left leg to take a shot, he limped away, flexing the knee. After the final whistle, the seriousness of the injury became apparent and a tearful Puig gestured to his parents to come out of the stands and join him on the field, where they tried to console him. Vanney also embraced and comforted Puig, who was then wearing a towel over his head.
“Emotionally, he’s devastated,” Vanney said. “This is what he came here for, to be in this game and to win a championship. That’s what he’s been driven and motivated by.”
Vanney has some experience with devastating injuries. He was named to the U.S. World Cup team in 2002 but missed the tournament after being injured in one of the final warm-up games.
“I understand a little bit the devastation that comes with it, and I hope to try to be a resource for him,” he said. “But it’s going to be hard for him. I can already see that the messages he sent the group, so he’s there, and the group’s going to want to fight for him. Because he’s certainly helped us to get here.”
Puig, 25, an MLS all-star, was named to the league’s postseason Best XI Tuesday. He emerged as one of the league’s most dynamic and influential players after the Galaxy paired him with speedy wingers Joseph Paintsil and Gabriel Pec this season.
The three designated players, nicknamed “The Killer Ps,” combined for 39 goals and 39 assists during the regular season, making them the most productive trio in the league.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
