The second-seeded Los Angeles Galaxy can seal their place in a Western Conference semifinal on Friday night if they can repeat the performance that led to their 5-0 victory over the Colorado Rapids in Game 1 of their Round 1 series.
The Galaxy expect a far stiffer test in Game 2 in Commerce City, Colo., than in their series-opening triumph at home in which Dejan Joveljic and Riqui Puig both scored twice.
For starters, Los Angeles lost only once at home in the regular season (13-1-3) against a 6-7-4 away record. And the Rapids could also be healthier than in their last meeting, with Djordje Mihailovic and Cole Bassett both potentially returning from injuries.
Mihailovic practiced in full on Thursday, while Bassett mainly did individual work on the side. Both were listed as questionable on Thursday’s injury report.
Even so, the Galaxy have won all three meetings with Colorado this year by an aggregate 11-3 margin, which gives coach Greg Vanney what he thinks is a good feel of how the Rapids will try to defeat Los Angeles on Friday.
“They’re either going to come pressing and pressing really hard, or they’re going to try and protect themselves a little bit and hurt us on the counter,” Vanney said. “But I suspect that it’s going to be the first, and that they’ll come pretty hard and see if they can’t disrupt and get something early on and see if they can get some momentum in this thing.”
Mihailovic has had his best MLS season with 11 goals and 14 assists for Colorado, but was out with an ankle injury picked up early in the regular-season finale against Austin on Oct. 19.
Bassett was a late scratch after he was expected to make his return from a quad issue that has kept him inactive for most of the last month.
The latter absence has coincided with the Rapids’ current five-game losing streak (including regular season and playoffs).
“As a head coach, I don’t often talk about in the media who we’re missing, ‘cause it sounds like an excuse, to be honest with you,” Rapids coach Chris Armas said. “But when you’re missing your key guys, some stress comes because oftentimes that’s your focal point. It’s your reference point. It’s good to have both of them back in some regard.”
–Field Level Media