The New York and Los Angeles teams will face-off for the biggest prize in North American football.
The New York Red Bulls have booked themselves a spot in their first MLS Cup final after a 1-0 win at Orlando City saw them through to the December 7 decider against the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Both teams won their respective conference championship games on Saturday, with the Galaxy securing a home ground advantage as the higher seeded team.
An 85th-minute goal from Serbian forward Dejan Joveljic earned Galaxy a 1-0 win over the Seattle Sounders.
A 47th-minute header from Andres Reyes gave the Red Bulls the victory and sent the New Jersey club into the final.
The Red Bulls qualified for the playoffs with a seventh place in the regular season, earning them the final automatic spot in the playoffs.
Sandro Schwarz’s team then pulled off a major upset by beating defending champions Columbus Crew in the best-of-three first round before eliminating local rivals New York City last week.
Orlando had the early pressure and Red Bulls keeper Carlos Coronel had to be at his best to keep out an effort from Facundo Torres after a counterattack.
But Red Bulls threatened themselves when their Swedish playmaker Emil Forsberg floated a free kick into the box and Belgian Dante Vanzeir flicked the ball just wide.
Two minutes after the interval, New York grabbed the decisive goal when John Tolkin’s free kick was delivered perfectly to the back post, where Reyes arrived to head in.
Orlando grew increasingly desperate in their attacks – Duncan McGuire got round the back of the Red Bulls defence but fired his shot well wide and then Luis Muriel’s rushed effort from a promising position flew harmlessly off-target.
The last chance of the game fell to Ivan Angulo, but he too failed to find the target as the Red Bulls, founding members of MLS in 1996, held firm.
“I’m very proud of the whole group. It’s amazing to create this atmosphere and also with this fighting spirit. Amazing the last couple of weeks and now we have one week more and it’s not done,” said German Schwarz, former Mainz and Hertha Berlin coach.
Los Angeles here we come. 🌴🏆@LAGalaxy host the @NewYorkRedBulls for the title at @dignityhealthsp on December 7th. pic.twitter.com/0DcXPoaSzq
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) December 1, 2024
The Galaxy, record five-time MLS champions, will have a chance to extend that mark when they take part in their first MLS Cup final in 10 years.
Jovejlic had twice seen efforts saved by Seattle keeper Stefan Frei, but he kept his composure to settle a dour contest.
Alex Roldan gave the ball away for Seattle and LA’s Spanish midfielder Riqui Puig played a deft through ball to Joveljic, who provided an ice-cool finish.
The Galaxy were the second seed in the Western Conference after not making the playoffs last year. They beat Colorado in two games in the first round and defeated Minnesota 6-2 last Sunday.
The Galaxy and Red Bulls did not face each other during the regular season.
