From the bench to the first championship: For former national soccer player Marco Reus, the long-held dream of a championship title finally came true on Saturday. The 35-year-old won the Major League Soccer (MLS) final with his club Los Angeles Galaxy against the New York Red Bulls with German coach Sandro Schwarz 2-1 (2-1). Reus came on as a substitute in the 75th minute.
A week earlier, Reus had been substituted in the conference final against Seattle (1-0) with adductor problems. It wasn’t enough for a starting eleven in the final in front of 27,000 spectators in their own stadium, Dignity Health Sports Park. But coach Greg Vanney brought his midfielder on in the final phase.
Early 2-0 lead for LA
The former Gladbach and Dortmund player Reus initially saw a game from the sidelines in which LA took the lead early thanks to Joseph Paintsil (9th) and ex-Frankfurt player Dejan Joveljic (13th). Sean Nealls (28th) shortened the score for the guests. In the second half, Black brought in five fresh players, but all of New York’s efforts were in vain. In the end, the record champion from California celebrated his sixth title and his first since 2014.
A defeat would have been bitter for Marco Reus. He had never won a national championship. There were seven runner-up titles with BVB, the Dortmund team won their last trophy in 2012 under coach Jürgen Klopp – a year before Reus returned to his youth club from Mönchengladbach.
Lots of missed tournaments
He also missed the World Championships (2014 and 2022) and European Championships (2016 and 2021) due to injury, and in 2023 he dramatically lost his first championship title with Dortmund on the last Bundesliga matchday.
Reus came to Los Angeles in the summer after his contract with Borussia Dortmund ended. He received a contract with the Galaxy for two and a half years until the end of 2026. In the MLS, the season always ends with the calendar year.