The pulse is weak and the breathing shallow, but the Galaxy’s playoff hopes are still alive.
And getting better.
With a 4-1 win over Austin FC on Saturday, combined with San José’s win over Real Salt Lake, the Galaxy head into next weekend’s regular-season finale with a narrow path that would guarantee them a place in the postseason: beat or draw with Salt Lake on the road and they’re in. Anything short of that and they no longer control their own destiny, meaning they’d need favorable results elsewhere to advance.
A similar scenario holds for Real Salt Lake, which goes on with a win in its final game but would be eliminated with a loss or draw.
“Now everyone’s season is on the line,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “It’s always good to go into the final week and know that you don’t have to be scoreboard watching. You’ve got to take care of your own business, and if you do that, you control your own destiny. That’s the one thing you definitely want. It’s on us.”
It’s taken a long, mad sprint to get this close. The Galaxy (11-11-11, 44 points) have lost only one of their last eight games, making them one of the hottest teams in MLS over the last seven weeks, going from 12th place in the 15-team Western Conference standings to seventh with one game left, pending the rest of the weekend’s results.
Know who has been just as hot? Real Salt Lake (12-15-6, 42 points), which was unbeaten in its last five before Saturday.
The Galaxy are finally getting healthy at the right time. With Hirving Lozano and Joseph Paintstil returning from injury and Marco Reus from illness, the Galaxy on Saturday started their strongest lineup of the season and were rewarded with a season-high four goals.
“When this group gets together and we can get them in sync, we [have] a team that could be very dangerous,” Vanney said. “If again we take care of business next week and we go into the playoffs, not a lot of teams are going to love seeing us across from them. That’s the opportunity that we’re seeking, right?
“Just the opportunity to go after this thing.”
Playing aggressively before an intimate Halloween gathering of 17,238 at Dignity Health Sports Park, the Galaxy went ahead to stay in the 10th minute, overwhelming Austin by rushing four men into the penalty area to score on João Klauss’ right-footed shot from the center of the box.
The goal, Klauss’ 10th of the season, matched his career high in a career-low 16 games and it was a good omen for the Galaxy, who have yet to lose this season when scoring first. Things got even better when Lozano doubled the lead on a header just before halftime. Harbor Miller earned assists on both goals, giving him three in his last three starts.
Robert Taylor made it 3-0 three minutes after coming off the bench to start the second half, drilling a right-footed shot into the roof of the net off an assist from Reus.
Ervin Torres pulled one back for Austin (8-15-10) in the 54th minute, curling a right-footed shot past Galaxy keeper JT Marcinkowski from well outside the box. But that was as close as the visitors would get, with Sergi Roberto closing out the scoring with his first MLS goal in the 66th minute.
Reus set up that one too, giving him three assists for the game and a team-high 15 for the season. It also marked a career best for Reus, who twice finished a Bundesliga season with 13 assists for Borussia Dortmund.
“In the most recent games, we’ve been playing great football,” Lozano said in Spanish. “We’re on the right track.”
Now the Galaxy will spend the rest of the weekend watching results. A win or a draw by Colorado in Saturday’s late game and the same result from Seattle on Sunday would push the Galaxy to the ninth and final playoff berth in the conference, two points ahead of Real Salt Lake, with 90 minutes left in the season.
But they’re not dead yet. And that has the Galaxy locker room feeling confident.
“We have to play our best football from the first minute to the 90th minute,” Lozano said of next week’s game before adding, “I believe we’re going to advance.”
