LA Galaxy Grab All Three Points Against New England Revolution Behind Early Reus Strike

Eleven minutes. That's all it took for the Galaxy to grab the lead, and that early cushion proved enough to secure all three points in Carson.

The Los Angeles side beat the New England Revolution 2-1 on Saturday night, putting the match away almost entirely in the first half. Marco Reus opened the scoring from the penalty spot with just 11 minutes on the clock, after Will Sands brought down Kyogo Furuhashi inside the box. The referee had no hesitation pointing to the spot, and showed the visiting defender a yellow card on top of it. Reus, 37, made no mistake, converting his fifth goal of the season and the 11th in 49 appearances since arriving in MLS.

If the first goal stung, the second put the game to bed for the Revolution. In the 33rd minute, Robert Taylor stepped up to score his first goal as a Galaxy player, in just his ninth appearance in the LA jersey during his debut season with the club. For the Finn, it was the 15th goal of his professional career in 119 matches, a number that confirms he's not a forward who makes a lot of noise, but one who knows how to show up when it counts.

With the score at 2-0 at halftime, the Galaxy managed the rest of the match behind a solid defense and goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski. The keeper answered with seven saves and kept a clean sheet well into stoppage time. His net finally fell in the sixth minute of second-half added time, also from the penalty spot, after a foul by Harbor Miller on Luca Langoni that the referee again called without hesitation. Carles Gil, the Revolution captain and longtime standard-bearer of the club, converted the penalty for the final margin.

That goal carries its own weight in Gil's career: it was his eighth of the season and the 58th in 216 appearances for New England, numbers that cement him as one of the most decisive players the club has had in recent years. But it came too late to change anything.

On New England's side, Matt Turner barely had any work to do, making just one save all night, a reflection of how little his team generated offensively before the game was already all but decided. The Revolution had entered the night in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, but the loss dropped their road record to 3-6-2, a number that carries weight as the regular season winds down.

For the Galaxy, the win carries its own significance at home: they improved to 4-4-4 on their own turf, a mark that's starting to look more balanced after a rocky stretch. The Los Angeles side moved to 7-9-8 overall, numbers that reflect an up and down season, but one that at least delivered a clear-cut win over a direct rival in the standings on this night.

Both teams already have their sights on what's next. New England will visit New York City FC on Wednesday, while LA Galaxy will travel to face the Vancouver Whitecaps that same day.