Riqui Puig collapsed in a heap. After 95 minutes of tense, militant soccer, his Los Angeles Galaxy had defeated the Seattle Sounders 1-0 in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference Final.
Puig’s cheeky, insouciant, utterly perfect assist to striker Dejan Joveljic in the 85th minute clinched the win, and the win clinched the Galaxy’s first MLS Cup berth in a decade.
Puig’s teammates celebrated together in the center of the field. They motioned for Puig to join them, but Puig stayed down, splayed out on the left flank with his hands over his face. As he got up and embraced his coach Greg Vanney, it was clear to see that he was sobbing.
Puig, one of MLS’s finest athletes and biggest personalities, had overcome plenty to make it to this moment. He’d overcome his genetics, which left him just 5-foot-7 and 123 pounds — small enough for most to believe he’d never be a world-class soccer player. He’d overcome his fraught relationship with Barcelona, the club that raised him but kicked him to the curb right as he was ready to play. And most importantly, he’d overcome the Galaxy’s confidence-sapping dry spell.
2023, his first full season in Los Angeles, was the team’s all-time worst, marred by front office troubles, fan protests and on-field chaos.
It had been a long road to get to the top; Puig’s emotion was understandable. But as his teammates ran to his side and pulled him toward the center circle to celebrate, Puig’s left leg buckled, and he winced.
He knew something his teammates didn’t. 30 minutes earlier, after a fair but robust challenge from Seattle midfielder Cristian Roldan, Puig tore his ACL. He told no one, playing out the rest of the match in excruciating pain.
But now, celebrating his Western Conference victory, Puig was coming to terms with reality. His injury was serious. There was no chance of him playing in the MLS Cup final he’d worked so hard to earn. He’d overcome plenty to get here, but he wasn’t going to overcome this.
Puig is a polarizing figure. He’s tricky, impish, brash and he’s known as a master manipulator, both for his perfect game-setting passes and for the way he baits and infuriates opposition defenders.
MLS fans think he’s too much: too loud, too opinionated, too sneaky. They’re not wrong. But the truth is that Puig’s larger-than-life personality is only part of the story.
MLS fans don’t roll their eyes at Puig because he’s too much. They do it because he’s too talented. Because he waltzes through their teams even when he’s hiding an ACL tear and functionally playing on one leg. When push comes to shove, everyone in MLS can grudgingly admit that the league is better with Puig in it. Soccer needs its showmen — doubly so when they’ve got the skills to back it up. Puig has those skills to spare.
No one in American soccer finds the ball like Puig does. He managed a whopping 3240 ball touches over the course of the 2024 season. His nearest competitor, Houston’s Brazilian midfielder Artur, made 471 fewer; for context, Artur would need six extra games’ worth of pitch-perfect play to make up the difference.
But Puig doesn’t just touch the ball: he distributes it better than anyone else, too. He leads the league in passes, pass accuracy and free kicks. No one in MLS can touch him.
His loss could be a killer blow for the Galaxy, who swung from firm MLS Cup favorites to wince-inducing underdogs with the announcement of his ACL tear. But while the Galaxy can’t replace Puig in the big game, there’s hope that it will use his absence as a galvanizing force.
Puig got the Galaxy to the final; the Galaxy can return the favor by getting Puig the trophy.
ACL tears are serious business in soccer; some players who suffer them never recover, and many who do never play quite as well again. MLS’ 29-year history is littered with would’ve-could’ve-should’ve ACL sufferers whose careers were cut short, from Calen Carr in 2012 to Ian Fray earlier this year. It would be a cruel twist to see Puig among that cursed company.
To hear Puig tell it, though, he’s certain he’ll be one of the lucky ones.
“Today begins a new challenge,” he wrote on Instagram after his diagnosis. “I will be off the pitch for several months, but I am already looking towards and motivated to return stronger than ever and ready to continue making history in this club.”
After everything Puig overcame to bring his beloved Galaxy to the final, it’d be foolish to bet against him.
The Galaxy will take on the New York Red Bulls in the MLS Cup Final on Saturday. A victory will see Los Angeles earn its sixth league title and cement its status as MLS’ winningest franchise.
Puig won’t be on the field to orchestrate the team’s efforts, but he’ll be on the sidelines. Cheering, cursing, being too much, as always. But with a long, fraught recovery ahead of him, even the most cynical MLS fans wouldn’t want Puig to be anything less.
