Galaxy looks to close out opening series against Colorado

Not long ago, The Galaxy’s 5-0 win on Saturday Opening the Major League Soccer playoffs likely would have been enough to win the home-and-home series.

In the current MLS landscape, this opening win is just that – a victory without an overall goal margin for the Galaxy, which they could carry over into Friday’s second meeting against the Colorado Rapids.

“I miss those days,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “Each of these is one game at a time. There has never been a truer statement in the playoff scenario: This is not a knockout game.

“You win the first game, it’s great, you did that, but this will be a completely new game, in a completely new environment, and both teams will have looked back on that last game and said, ‘Okay, what did we like ‘What didn’t we like, what do we expect?’ And try to prepare our groups for what is coming. It only takes one result to get back on track with this.”

Each game in the best two-out-of-three opening round counts as a separate result. A Colorado win (either regulation or shootout) sends the series back to a deciding third game on November 9 at Dignity Health Sports Park.

The Galaxy had a near-perfect performance in the opening game, allowing just one shot.

“You have to play every game the way you like it and you have to play every game to solve the problems of the day and get the result at the end of the day,” Vanney said.

The Galaxy last visited Colorado on October 2nd and came along a 3-1 winit is the first in Colorado since 2017.

“We’re going to have to expect a whole different team when we go there (Friday),” Vanney said. “Obviously it wasn’t that long ago that we played in Colorado. We’re expecting a more aggressive team, a team that’s physically stronger, a team that’s going to try to disrupt us a lot more, so we’re just prepared for that.

“Either they will push very hard or they will try to protect themselves a bit and hurt us on the counterattack, but I suspect it will be the first and they will do pretty well. “We will be tough and see if they can disrupt us and get something done early, and try to give this thing some momentum. But we just have to be ready to solve the problems in front of us and try to take advantage of our opportunities on the other side.”