The Los Angeles Galaxy will hold a celebration on Sunday after winning their sixth MLS Cup at Dignity Health Sports Park's Legends Plaza.
Players, coaches and staff will be present at the 3 p.m. celebration. Team broadcaster Joe Tutino will be the emcee. DJ Vick One will provide musical entertainment. Admission and parking are free.
"This whole team will go down in history as one of the great teams I think of the Galaxy, not just because of today, but all year," coach Greg Vanney said after Saturday's 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls increased their record and gave it the cup for the first time since 2014.
"They broke all kinds of records all year in a club that has set a lot of records in the league over the years. They should be remembered for it, and I believe they will, because of the way they finished it off today."
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The Galaxy's 18 goals in five playoff games were a record as was their plus-14 goal differential. They were the first team to have four players with at least three goals during the playoffs -- six from Dejan Joveljic, four each from Riqui Puig and Joseph Paintsil and three from Gabriel Pec.
The Galaxy were 17-0-4 in all competitions at Dignity Health Sports Park in 2024. The 17 victories at home equals the MLS record for the most wins in a single venue within a season, regular season and playoffs.
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D.C. United set the record in 1998 with 17 victories at RFK Stadium. It was tied by the Chicago Fire in 2000 with 17 victories at Soldier Field and the Galaxy in 2014 with 17 victories at Dignity Health Sports Park.
Playing in the MLS Cup for a record 10th time and first since 2014, Paintsil and Joveljic scored in the opening 13 minutes and John McCarthy made four saves, including stopping Cameron Harper's shot in the 85th minute and Elias Manoel's header five minutes into second-half stoppage time to preserve the lead.
Paintsil sprinted past the New York defense to collect a through ball from Gastón Brugman and rolled a shot from about 10 yards out past goalkeeper Carlos Coronel in the ninth minute. Edwin Cerrillo was also credited with an assist.
Joveljic controlled a header from Mark Delgado about eight yards past the halfway line, drove to near the penalty spot and put a left-footed shot past Coronel.
The scoring sequence on the Red Bulls' goal began with Emil Forsberg's corner kick which was headed away by Galaxy defender Maya Yoshida. After the Galaxy was unable to clear the ball, it went to Nealis, who put a shot from near the penalty spot inside the right goalpost.
Brugman was selected as the MVP in his first start since Oct. 5 after being used as a substitute for the final regular season game and each of the first four playoff games.
Vanney said he chose Brugman to start to "win the middle of the park ... especially early in the game, when they usually like to have it really like fast and pressing and disruptive."
"To me, they came out a little bit slower than I was expecting them to come out," Vanney said. "But we came out fast, like we were prepared for that game, and Gaston was able to step in (and) win balls. He played an incredible pass through the lines. He was a warrior in both directions."
Both teams took 12 shots. The Galaxy led 6-5 in shots on goal. New York took six corner kicks to the Galaxy's four before a sold-out crowd at Dignity Health Sports Park announced at 26,812.
Coronel made four saves.
The Galaxy won despite the absence of Puig, their best player, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the second half of the Western Conference Final Nov. 30. He continued to play for more than 30 minutes and provided the game-winning assist on Joveljic's 85th-minute goal in the 1-0 victory over Seattle Sounders FC.
Puig was selected for the MLS Best XI after scoring 13 goals and leading the team with 15 assists in 29 regular season games. He was among four players in the league with at least 13 goals scored and 15 assists.
He also led the league in touches (2,847), passes attempted (2,847), passes completed (2,497), fouls suffered (83) and multi-assist performances (6).
In the playoffs, Puig had four goals and three assists.
After missing the playoffs three of the past four seasons, including finishing 13th in the 14-team Western Conference in 2023, the Galaxy tied Los Angeles FC for first with a 19-8-7 record, but were seeded second because their plus-19 goal differential was one less than LAFC's.
The Galaxy then defeated seventh-seeded Colorado, two games to none, in the best-of-three first round before a 6-2 victory over sixth-seeded Minnesota United in the conference semifinals and the win over Seattle in the conference final.
This was the second time the Red Bulls reached the MLS Cup. They lost to the Columbus Crew, 3-1, in 2008 at the then-Home Depot Center, now Dignity Health Sports Park, when the game was played at neutral sites.
New York was 11-9-14 in the regular season and seeded seventh in the Eastern Conference. They defeated second-seeded Columbus, two games to none, in the first round, sixth-seeded New York City FC, 2-0, in an Eastern Conference semifinal and fourth-seeded Orlando City, 1-0, in the Eastern Conference final to become the lowest seeded team to reach the MLS Cup.
