LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls: Two originals go head-to-head in MLS Cup

CARSON, Ca— In its 29th year, Major League Soccer remains a work in progress. The league continues to tinker with its identity and direction, and fans sometimes joke that the league office itself sometimes plays the part of scriptwriter, engineering matchups and results it might find favorable.

Saturday’s MLS Cup final between the LA Galaxy and the New York Red Bulls, then, feels like an ideal plot point in MLS’ journey. For years, the Galaxy and the Red Bulls — two of the league’s original franchises — were among its highest-profile teams, equipped with superstars and playing in this country’s two biggest media markets.

As MLS has continued to evolve, though, the Galaxy and Red Bulls have dropped in the pecking order. Even in their own cities, the two are often overshadowed by newer competitors: New York City Football Club (NYCFC) on one coast and Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) on the other. The Galaxy and Red Bulls are no longer the league’s chosen teams. Far from it.

At Dignity Health Sports Park ahead of the final on Saturday, you could feel that a little bit this week. When the stadium was built in 2003, it set the standard for what a soccer-specific stadium in the United States could look and feel like. Two decades later, it feels a bit more worn-in, a little run-down in spots. The collection of media that arrived for the league’s media day ahead of the final felt a little smaller, the spotlight a little dimmer.

The matchup, though, is still deeply compelling, especially to long-time observers of the league. MLS is so often a story of the shiny new thing — the league has continued to expand rapidly and its executives frequently point to those franchises as proof of MLS’ growing popularity. In the meantime, many of the league’s original franchises have languished, including New York and Los Angeles.

Yet here they are, in the final.

“I think it’s great,” Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney said on Friday. “I think all teams have the capacity to stay relevant and stay in the moment regardless of when they came into the league. For Red Bulls and for LA, this is the first time we’ve had LA and New York play against each other in a final. I think that’s fantastic. Now you’ll have next year 30 teams that will all have their own vision of how they want to create their roster, how they want to define their style of play, figuring out how to get to this moment. To see two clubs who have been around as long as we have and the Red Bulls are, it’s just a special moment.”

To fans of the Galaxy, a victory on Saturday could mark the beginning of a return to their former glory. New York’s long-suffering fanbase has even more at stake: the club has never won an MLS Cup. Along with FC Dallas and the New England Revolution, they are one of the league’s only original teams who have never won a league championship.

If you’re new to MLS or just catching up, here’s The Athletic’s guide to everything you need to know ahead of Saturday’s final.

Who’s involved?

The LA Galaxy will host Saturday’s final thanks to finishing higher in the regular season table than their opponent.

It’s the Galaxy’s first trip to MLS Cup since 2014, when Landon Donovan and Robbie Keane won their third title in a four-year window. Since then, they’ve struggled to keep pace with the league as other clubs made their roster construction more sophisticated and modernized their squad building, leaning into youth development and carrying a larger number of high-end players.

The New York Red Bulls are back in the final for the first time in 2008. Despite being a founding member of MLS in 1996, the club has yet to win MLS Cup, having lost in their only appearance to date 16 years ago. New York is part of the prolific Red Bull football conglomerate, having pivoted from their initial “New York New Jersey MetroStars” branding back in 2006. They’ve been among the league’s leaders in developing homegrown talent, and five projected starters hail from New York and New Jersey.

Where’s Messi?

Let’s get this out of the way for those arriving late to the party: if Lionel Messi appears in Saturday’s final, it’ll be as a guest and not a participant.

Inter Miami was the league’s top team in the regular season, winning the Supporters’ Shield on the back of a record-setting 74-point haul. However, a questionable tactical pivot by Tata Martino saw Messi’s side become a far more negative and defensive version of its usual buzzing self in the playoffs, swapping out a creative midfielder (Julian Gressel) for additional defensive numbers.

It backfired spectacularly. Atlanta United — which finished 20th of 29 teams in the broader league standings — relished in its underdog status, frustrating Miami in a cagey first game before winning Game 2 at home and then, thanks to stellar shot-stopping from former United States international Brad Guzan, Game 3 in Fort Lauderdale.

Messi’s first full year in MLS has not ended with an MLS Cup final appearance (Chris Arjoon/AFP via Getty Images)

Messi wasn’t bad in the series, managing to score and assist once apiece from 20 shots and 18 chances created, but Miami wasn’t able to get the balance right. Martino resigned in the weeks following the upset.

Who are the headline players?

While teams from New York and Los Angeles enjoy a recruiting advantage thanks to their global cities, the star players may not be as glitzy as past members. There isn’t a once-great icon in his waning years, as the clubs have rostered with players like David Beckham, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Javier Hernandez, Thierry Henry and Rafael Marquez. Don’t discount the leading figures, however — if anything, they’re all still at the height of their powers rather than on the decline.

Los Angeles rebuilt around former Barcelona prodigy Riqui Puig, but the Spaniard played on after tearing his ACL in the second half of the Western Conference final and will not be involved. The Galaxy enjoyed MLS’s third-best attack in terms of goals scored, and have threats in spades thanks to wingers Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil as well as striker Dejan Joveljić.

There is one fading superstar among their ranks, Borussia Dortmund great Marco Reus (pictured below, on the ball), but he hasn’t yet found his footing since joining in the summer. Perhaps this game will give him a chance to replicate Gareth Bale’s heroics from two years ago — while that 2022 final’s other hero, goalkeeper John McCarthy, starts for the Galaxy.

(Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

New York is led by another European midfielder, Sweden international Emil Forsberg. The 33-year-old joined from RB Leipzig a year ago, giving the Red Bulls the sort of singular veteran talent the club hasn’t enjoyed since Henry retired in 2014. He’s joined in attack by industrious Scotland international Lewis Morgan, as well as Belgian striker Dante Vanzeir. Still, the heart of the Red Bulls is that local talent, most prominently U.S. youth internationals Daniel Edelman in midfield and John Tolkin at left-back. Paraguay international Carlos Coronel provides a capable set of hands in goal.

How haven’t these teams faced off in a Cup before?

It’s a very good question, as these were the two founding teams in the nation’s biggest markets. The answer unfortunately skews negatively in New York’s favor, as the club has often been competitive (their ongoing 15-year postseason qualification streak is a league record) but unable to match teams with more capable leading players. Their sole prior appearance in MLS Cup came in 2008, during a rare down period for the Galaxy as they were still getting used to the sideshow that came with Beckham’s arrival in 2007.

Now nearly 30 years on from the leagues founding, MLS has two teams in each major market, with New York City FC joining the fold in 2015 and Los Angeles FC kicking off in the 2018 season. Both relative newcomers have already won titles in their brief tenures, in 2021 and 2022, respectively — giving both teams involved on Saturday an additional reason to make amends and claim their own trophy to keep pace with their new neighbors.

If you’re the superstitious type, maybe you believe New York will never win an MLS Cup. The “Curse of Caricola” is among MLS’ oldest legends, dating back to the club’s very first game in 1996. Nicola Caricola, a defender on the 1996 New York/New Jersey MetroStars, as they were known back then, scored an own goal that cost New York the game. At that moment, some New York fans claim, the franchise was cursed forever. Some believe the curse was lifted in 2013, when New York won MLS’ Supporters’ Shield — awarded to the team with the best regular-season record — but others insist the curse will live on until the club wins an MLS Cup.

What’s at stake?

The winner of MLS Cup traditionally qualifies for the next year’s CONCACAF Champions Cup. While that’s a straightforward answer for the New York Red Bulls should they come out on top, the Galaxy already qualified by virtue of their Western Conference finish. If the Galaxy win, the league’s 10th and final entry into the CCC would go to the next highest-ranked team in the league standings: the Seattle Sounders, who finished 7th in the table and lost to the Galaxy in last weekend’s conference final.

How do I watch?

The game kicks off on Saturday, December 7 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern/1:00 p.m. Pacific. The league-produced broadcast will stream globally via MLS Season Pass on Apple TV as part of the league’s partnership with the tech giant. There are also linear broadcasts via FOX, FOX Deportes, TSN, and RDS.

If you’re willing to brave the Manhattan weather, the game will also be shown in Times Square. MLS will have the game showing from kickoff on SILVERCAST Media’s high-definition “Mega-Zilla”, a 78-foot by 330-foot monster digital TV display located on Broadway between 45th and 46th Streets. Given which local team is involved, we recommend showing up wearing your red parka instead of your blue.

Recent winners

Here’s the full list of finals since the Galaxy last appeared in 2014, with the home team listed first and the winner in bold typeface:

2015: Columbus Crew 1 – 2 Portland Timbers

2016: Toronto FC 0 – 0 Seattle Sounders (4-5 on PKs)

2017: Toronto FC 2 – 0 Seattle Sounders

2018: Atlanta United 2 – 0 Portland Timbers

2019: Seattle Sounders 3 – 1 Toronto FC

2020: Columbus Crew 3 – 0 Seattle Sounders

2021: Portland Timbers 1 – 1 New York City FC (2-4 on PKs)

2022: Los Angeles FC 3 – 3 Philadelphia Union (3-0 on PKs)

2023: Columbus Crew 2 – 1 Los Angeles FC

Required reading

(Top photo: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)