In a staff sport no participant is irreplaceable. However for the , comes shut.
Puig, the playmaker and chief of one of the vital potent assaults in franchise historical past, will miss with the New York Pink Bulls at Dignity Well being Sports activities Park after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in final weekend’s Western Convention closing with Seattle. He’ll bear surgical procedure quickly and is anticipated to be out till subsequent summer season no less than.
And that leaves the Galaxy looking for a substitute for his or her most irreplaceable participant.
“We’re undoubtedly going to overlook Riqui,” midfielder stated Tuesday. “Particular participant. He simply brings one thing utterly totally different that no one can actually carry.
“We simply have to maneuver ahead. The sport stops for nobody and we simply need to kind it out. And that is Greg’s job.”
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Greg can be coach Greg Vanney, who was guarded in how he may alter his lineup in Puig’s absence Saturday. When Puig was unavailable throughout the common season, Vanney used Marco Reus and Diego Fagúndez in his place. However Reus is coping with a nagging groin situation and Fagúndez hasn’t began a recreation or performed greater than 17 minutes in a single since mid-September. Different choices embrace Delgado and Gastón Brugman.
“It will be a special kind of participant than Riqui,” Vanney stated. “Marco, we’ll see how his well being is because the week progresses. Diego offers us slightly little bit of the choice that we noticed earlier than. I additionally have a look at the Pink Bulls [and] see them as slightly little bit of a singular competitor due to their urgent.
“We’re working by means of, speaking by means of, the best personnel to attempt to method the sport.”
The Pink Bulls, 11-14-9 within the common season, completed seventh within the Japanese Convention desk however went on a run within the playoffs, sweeping the defending MLS champion Columbus Crew within the best-of-three first spherical, then shutting out New York Metropolis and Orlando Metropolis in elimination video games to grow to be the lowest-seeded staff ever to succeed in the Cup closing.
The Pink Bulls, who received simply two of their closing 14 regular-season video games, relationship to June 22, have given up solely two targets within the postseason, with goalkeeper Carlos Coronel pitching three shutouts and making 19 saves.
The one staff to complete the common season with a dropping report earlier than successful the league title was Actual Salt Lake (11-12-7), which beat the Galaxy on penalty kicks in 2009. The Pink Bulls, an unique MLS staff, have by no means received the MLS Cup, dropping the one closing wherein it performed in 2008. That recreation was additionally performed in Carson.
Enhancing their possibilities on this one is the truth that the Galaxy received’t have Puig, who scored a career-high 13 targets and had a team-high 15 assists within the common season, the 28 purpose contributions in 29 video games rating tenth in MLS. He additionally led the league in touches and passes, making him the motor of the one staff in MLS historical past to have 4 gamers end with 10 or extra targets.
And he was even higher within the playoffs, scoring 4 targets and getting three assists, contributing to the scoring in all 4 Galaxy wins. Together with playoffs, Puig has had a purpose or help in 12 of his final 15 MLS video games relationship to mid-July.
The Galaxy had a successful report within the 5 MLS video games Puig missed this season, going 3-1-1, however the staff averaged simply 1.6 targets in these 5 video games versus 2.33 when Puig performed.
Puig torn the ligament in his left knee early within the second half of Saturday’s convention closing on a non-contact play.
Within the sixtieth minute, Seattle’s Cristian Roldan introduced Puig down with a heavy deal with simply outdoors the Sounders’ penalty space, drawing a yellow card and leaving Puig writhing on the bottom and clutching his left knee. Puig ultimately made his technique to the Galaxy bench, the place he was briefly attended to by coach Cesar Roldan, Cristian’s brother.
However three minutes after the Roldan deal with, whereas racing Seattle’s Pedro de la Vega for a free ball, Puig’s left leg gave means and he went down untouched. That was when the damage occurred though Puig performed on, organising Dejan Joveljic’s game-winning purpose within the eighty fifth minute.
“It was a reasonably simple ACL tear,” Vanney stated. “I believe, given the second, the adrenaline, the competitor inside him, I do not know if he utterly knew that.
“He felt like his knee was slightly unstable, he felt some clicking. However he did not essentially hear or really feel like a pop, which typically is a sign. I truly did not even know that he had a knee situation.”
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It was apparent he was ailing; late within the recreation, after planting on his left leg to take a shot, he limped away, flexing the knee. After the ultimate whistle, the seriousness of the damage grew to become obvious and a tearful Puig gestured to his dad and mom to come back out of the stands and be part of him on the sector, the place they tried to console him. Vanney additionally embraced and comforted Puig, who was then sporting a towel over his head.
“Emotionally, he is devastated,” Vanney stated. “That is what he got here right here for, to be on this recreation and to win a championship. That is what he is been pushed and motivated by.”
Vanney has some expertise with devastating accidents. He was named to the U.S. World Cup staff in 2002 however missed the match after being injured in one of many closing warm-up video games.
“I perceive slightly bit the devastation that comes with it, and I hope to attempt to be a useful resource for him,” he stated. “However it will be arduous for him. I can already see that the messages he despatched the group, so he is there, and the group’s going to need to struggle for him. As a result of he is actually helped us to get right here.”
Puig, 25, an MLS all-star, was named to the league’s postseason Finest XI Tuesday. He emerged as one of many league’s most dynamic and influential gamers after the Galaxy paired him with speedy wingers Joseph Paintsil and Gabriel Pec this season.
The three designated gamers, nicknamed “The Killer Ps,” mixed for 39 targets and 39 assists throughout the common season, making them the most efficient trio within the league.
This story initially appeared in .