CARSON, Calif. – He won’t be in uniform on matchday, and he’s keeping a low profile as he pivots towards the surgery and lengthy rehabilitation process by which he’ll heal the ACL he tore in the LA Galaxy’s dramatic Western Conference Final victory last weekend.
Riqui Puig’s figure looms large over Saturday's MLS Cup 2024 presented by Audi against the New York Red Bulls just the same (4 pm ET | Apple TV - Free; FOX, FOX Deportes; TSN, RDS).
“We have to win for Riqui,” Galaxy captain Maya Yoshida told reporters as he and other key protagonists fielded questions during media day at Dignity Health Sports Park on Thursday afternoon.
The Spaniard’s catastrophic injury robs his team of its beating heart for the biggest game of the year, opening up a hole too big for any one teammate to fill. Yet it also provides another potent source of motivation for a side who’ve picked up a sense of destiny as they churn through the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs.
MLS Cup's biggest absence
“I'm really sad for him, because this is also something that really means a lot to him. So for us as players, we are not only doing this for ourselves, we are also doing this for him,” said LA winger Joseph Paintsil, revealing that he’d exchanged text messages with Puig about the group’s collective resolve to complete their championship quest at DHSP, where they’ve yet to taste defeat in 20 matches this year.
“He even was like, ‘Hey guys, let bygones be bygones. I'm injured, just focus and just do whatever you need to do.’ And the kind of spirit that he gives us, I think on the field of play on Saturday, even though Riqui is not on the field, we will feel his presence. And with his presence, I think everything will be possible.”
The motor of the Galaxy’s attack, a one-of-one metronome maestro whose influence is unmatched, Puig ran head and shoulders ahead of the rest of MLS in multiple statistical categories this season, including touches, passes attempted and completed, fouls suffered and multi-assist performances. His mastery helped LA impose themselves week after week via possession, chance creation and field tilt, unlocking the abilities of frontline mates Gabriel Pec, Paintsil and Dejan Joveljić.
An irreplaceable player
Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney was pragmatic in addressing the loss, weighing how it will affect his team’s approach against the upstart Red Bulls.
“We're going to miss Riqui. There's not another player in the league, honestly, that's like him,” Vanney said Wednesday. “He's special and unique and he does special things for us. He can turn a game on a dime in one quick play – he’s extraordinary.
“We're going to have to take up that slack in a collective way, both with and without the ball and how we move the ball quickly and the things that we do in attack. But also in the ways that we do defensively in trying to clog things up, create turnovers, do some things that maybe with Riqui, we don’t have to do as much, but we’re going to need to do a little bit more of it [Saturday].”
Without Puig, Vanney and his staff face a tricky lineup decision in their central midfield trio, particularly given RBNY’s rugged pressing qualities, sturdy defensive structure and counterattacking menace.
Edwin Cerrillo has quietly been a vital stabilizing force at the No. 6 spot with defensive reliability that helps liberate the stars ahead of him to attack with confidence, and German star Marco Reus would be an important linking presence if he can work through the groin issue that forced him to leave last week's match at halftime. He’s not the same sort of creator as Puig, however.
“They’re just two different players,” said Diego Fagúndez on Thursday. “The way you see Riqui play, you can tell he's a young player with a lot of energy, a lot of speed; he can break players down. And then you look at Marco, and he can calm down the play. Sometimes I tell him, 'You look like you're playing in slow motion,' because he doesn't have the speed. But the way he gives you the passes, his touches and stuff, just shows a different quality of player.”
Could LA continue with two offensively-minded No. 8s, perhaps with Fagúndez stepping into Puig’s slot next to Reus? Or will a tough, ball-winning presence like Mark Delgado be needed to help win the engine-room battles and limit the influence of Emil Forsberg, Lewis Morgan & Co. in key moments?
“It's not a team that necessarily wants to have a ball, but they're going to put you on your heels, and you're going to try to make you defend in transition moments,” said Vanney of the Red Bulls. “So making sure that we try to win the middle of the field is going to be really important. How we set up our midfield and how we structure ourselves, both behind our attacks but also just in defensive moments, is going to be really important.”
Not Riqui-dependent
The Galaxy were 3W-1L-1D in regular-season matches without Puig, who was quite reliable in availability terms up until this knee injury. It’s a very difficult circumstance this time around, though Reus projected quiet confidence on Thursday.
“It was not so quite often that we play without Riqui in the season. I guess the playing style will be a little bit different without him. But I have really the feeling that the team knows how we’re going to play against [RBNY], because they will try always to stress us in every situation, to come from behind, to not let us go in our flow, especially to [Gabriel] Pec or Joe [Paintsil]," Reus said.
“We have to make sure that we have to stay calm, trust in our strength … We always can score goals with our offense, that's quite sure. So yeah, it's a little bit the balance we have to find.”
