High-scoring Galaxy hosts Sounders with MLS Cup final berth at stake

They’ve arrived at the last stop of the Western Conference playoff race via different paths.

The Galaxy, with the offense in overdrive, has looked unstoppable, scoring 15 goals in three playoff games, setting a new MLS record to start the playoffs..

“I think the group is locked in and playing with purpose,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “Connected and playing with real intention and I think when we do that we are a really good team. We make good decisions.”

On the other end, stands the fortified defense of the Seattle Sounders, Saturday’s opponent in the Western Conference final.

In their two-game series with the Houston Dynamo, the Sounders scored and allowed only one goal in regulation, winning both games in penalty kicks. In the conference semifinal, Seattle went 120 minutes, edging LAFC 2-1.

“Whenever you talk about Seattle and playoffs and this time of year, you have to talk about the culture that they have in the club,” Vanney said. “The grittiness, the resilience, the maturity, they’ve played in a lot of big games and they’ve won a lot of big games.

“So for me, it’s been a recycling of players and personalities over the years that even as new guys come or young guys come through, the culture is set for these guys, they work and they grind and they make things difficult, they defend and they have players that can hurt you in attack. It’s going to take every play, every moment to get rid of them and put them out in a situation like this.”

This situation has the Galaxy in their first conference final since 2014 and one win away from their first MLS Cup final appearance since that same year. As expected, things weren’t easy against the Sounders this season.

The teams met three times. The Galaxy won the first contest (March 30) on a fourth-minute Gabriel Pec goal. The teams met May 5 in Seattle with the game ending in a scoreless draw. The Galaxy didn’t have either Dejan Joveljic or Riqui Puig available. The third meeting came in the Round of 32 of the Leagues Cup tournament (Aug. 8). The Sounders jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the 10th minute and cruised to a 3-1 win.

“They kind of bullied us in front of the goal and headed balls in,” Vanney said of the third meeting when the Sounders scored twice off of corner kicks.

The Sounders haven’t scored a lot, but they certainly don’t allow many either. They led the league with just 35 goals allowed during the regular season, which poses another challenge to the Galaxy.

“They do a lot of things well on the defensive side, from a collective standpoint as well as an individual standpoint,” Vanney said. “We have to find ways to break them down, create goal-scoring chances, finish our moments when we have them