LA Galaxy's Puig to miss MLS Cup 2024 with torn ACL
Riqui Puig will miss MLS Cup and likely miss the majority of the 2025 season after tearing his ACL in LA Galaxy’s Western Conference win on Saturday. It’s the most influential absence possible for this year’s title-deciding match. We have a few thoughts and we’ve decided to publish the publishable ones that aren’t just us yelling profanities.
Let’s start with that assist…
Puig apparently played the last 30 minutes of Saturday’s match with a torn ACL. It’s an injury that presents itself in different ways in different circumstances for different people - some folks are unable to walk immediately, some can go until they win the Western Conference final - but let’s just all go ahead and agree Puig’s game-winning assist in the 85th minute is an all-time great assist in MLS history now. It becomes especially legendary if LA go on to win MLS Cup. Regardless of how he felt at the time, winning the conference with half of your anterior cruciate ligaments is gutsy as hell.
It’s hard to overstate Puig’s influence in attack
We’ve talked about it a ton over the last couple of years, but it’s worth repeating just how often Puig is involved in LA’s attack. American Soccer Analysis keeps track of “touch percentage.” It’s exactly what it sounds like: A measure of how often a player gets on the ball relative to the rest of his teammates. When Puig played this year, he took 14.6% of LA’s total touches, the highest mark in the league. More than 1.1% more than second-place Héctor Herrera for Houston Dynamo FC.
If we look at just the attacking and middle third of the pitch, Puig took a league-high 18.4% of his team’s touches. The next highest player, Carles Gil (New England Revolution), took 16.2%. There are only two seasons in ASA’s database (back to 2013) that saw a player take more than 18.4% of his team’s touches in the middle and attacking third. Both belong to Nico Lodeiro, who took 18.7% and 18.5% of Seattle’s touches in 2019 and 2018, respectively.
The big difference is the Galaxy are in attacking phases far more often than those Seattle teams. Puig attempted 2,531 passes this season, exactly 300 more than any other individual season in ASA’s database. And yet he’s still one of two players with more than 2,000 passes to have completed more than 85% of his attempts.
The good(ish) news is…
All of the above kind of makes it seem like the Galaxy are doomed this Saturday. But there are a few things that might ease some of the panic.
First, the Galaxy have some experience playing without Puig this season. In the five games he missed, LA went 3W-1L-1D. Diego Fagúndez spent time playing centrally during Puig’s early season absence and did just fine. This time, they can opt to go with Marco Reus.
At the time of Reus’ signing, I called it “pretty much the most superfluous signing in MLS history.” LA’s already outstanding attack didn’t need Reus to be great, but it sure was fun to have him around. Now, it suddenly feels necessary. He’s only made six starts for the Galaxy since arriving, but he’ll likely be called upon to make a very, very important start on Saturday. He won’t have the same influence Puig would have, but there are far worse options to turn to.
He’ll be up against a Red Bulls side that’s looked right at home sitting in a low block this postseason. Missing Puig as a locksmith against that setup is massive, but LA should still have opportunities to score. Reus still has the talent to be a difference-maker. The Galaxy will desperately need him to be one this weekend.
It’s bad news for New York too (kind of)
Red Bulls are close to their first-ever title, and everyone not in New York is going to be talking about Puig’s absence if they win. In the end, no one will really care that the Galaxy didn’t have Puig. But the internet remembers this kind of stuff. It doesn’t mean you don’t get your name on the trophy, it just means you’ll have to deal with people pointing out you caught a huge break (or two or three or four) on your way to a title.
That’s a sacrifice New York fans are probably willing to make. It’s been a perfect playoff run so far. One of the true Cinderella stories in MLS history keeps getting help from a fairy godmother who is a little too invested in MLS. Slowing down the Galaxy’s seemingly un-slowable attack just became more manageable. And teams are always fighting through injuries… even if we’ve never seen an injury quite so devastating right before MLS Cup.
Look, the shiny trophy ain’t gonna stop being shiny. I’d just imagine there’s a small part of New York fans’ souls that wanted to take down the best version of LA. Maybe.
The long-term consequences are huge too
It’s hard not to focus on the short-term with LA one win away from their first title in a decade. However, Puig is going to be out for a significant chunk of 2025. We don’t know how effective he’ll be when he returns. We don’t know what this Galaxy attack will be like next year and beyond. If Gabriel Pec leaves for a huge chunk of money, how much of a step back will they take? What about Dejan Joveljic? There’s a lot to be concerned about beyond Saturday.
A trophy would make all of that totally palatable though. The Galaxy either get to use the “We pulled it all together and did it for Riqui” narrative and celebrate a title that will live on for years, or they have to wallow in the “Man, what could have been if we had Riqui” narrative until… pretty much eternity.
It’s an awful break for everyone involved. Hopefully Puig is back and healthy as soon as possible. The league is far better with him in it. And it’s a serious bummer he won’t get to show why on the biggest stage.
Good luck out there. Don’t stop winning after the first one.
