{"id":129247,"date":"2025-08-08T14:21:20","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T14:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/129247\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T14:21:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T14:21:20","slug":"la-galaxy-flex-title-credentials-with-leagues-cup-quarterfinal-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/129247\/","title":{"rendered":"LA Galaxy flex title credentials with Leagues Cup quarterfinal trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

The LA Galaxy<\/a> still have a trophy to play for in 2025.<\/p>\n

Fourteen points adrift of the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs line and last in the Western Conference, it\u2019s been a trying season in Carson. But after cruising to a 4-0 win<\/a> over nine-man Santos Laguna in their Leagues Cup<\/a> Phase One finale Thursday evening, the 2024 MLS Cup champions have qualified for the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

Now, they’ll host LIGA MX side CF Pachuca on Aug. 19 or 20, knowing they’re just three victories away from winning the title. Additionally, the tournament’s top three finishers earn a spot in the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe message was conveyed, and they knew,\u201d head Coach Greg Vanney said postgame when asked about the importance of the game in the Galaxy\u2019s season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis tournament is an opportunity. We\u2019re at home and we had done enough work in the first two games to put ourselves in a position to control our own destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Dominant showing<\/p>\n

With the victory and goal differential swing, the Galaxy finished third in Leagues Cup Phase One among MLS teams. They climbed above Orlando City<\/a> (fourth), trailing just Seattle Sounders FC<\/a> (first) and Inter Miami CF<\/a> (second).<\/p>\n

\u201cI think as we\u2019ve navigated this tournament, it\u2019s shown what we knew that we had some of this capability inside of our group,\u201d Vanney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just about putting it all together and getting guys connected. I think it\u2019s showing that we have a good team and we\u2019re tough to play against, and that\u2019s been great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before facing Santos, the Galaxy roared to a 5-2 win over Club Tijuana<\/a> and battled 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup winners Cruz Azul to a 1-1 draw<\/a>, ultimately falling on penalty kicks. That left them on four points, knowing a win by two or more goals would see them progress into the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n

After a frenetic first half, which included two Santos red cards and the Galaxy bursting out to a 3-0 lead, the job was all but done. Joseph Paintsil<\/a> scored 52 seconds into the match, Matheus Nascimento<\/a> finished the night with a brace, and right back Mauricio Cuevas<\/a> dished out two assists.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was what I encouraged them to do,\u201d Vanney said. \u201cThere\u2019s one team out there tonight who was playing for something, and we wanted to see that in our energy, our intentions, and it was maybe the best first half we\u2019ve had all season.<\/p>\n

“It was just a couple of touches away from probably being four or more in the first half. That\u2019s how good the attacking play was.”<\/p>\n

\n Pachuca next<\/p>\n

As last year\u2019s MLS Cup champion, the Galaxy have hosting priority for their quarterfinal against Pachuca. That’s even though Pachuca, the current LIGA MX Apertura leaders and 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup winners, finished higher than LA in their Leagues Cup Phase One table (second).<\/p>\n

If LA can defeat Pachuca, they’ll reach the Leagues Cup semifinals on Aug. 26-27. The stakes are rising.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t seen Pachuca a lot yet,\u201d Vanney said. \u201cI know they\u2019re always traditionally a very good team, and I know we\u2019ll have to prepare and have a good plan and have the guys ready to go.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The LA Galaxy still have a trophy to play for in 2025. Fourteen points adrift of the Audi…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":129248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,70315,78882,61117,224,5337,44504,37638],"class_list":{"0":"post-129247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-galaxy","12":"tag-lavssan-08-07-2025","13":"tag-leagues-cup","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-match-reaction","17":"tag-sendtonews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114993593372295589","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}