The goals saw Boateng continue his personal hoodoo over RSL. Prior to this match, Boateng scored just two goals all season, but both came in games against RSL. The first was in a 5-2 win over RSL on April 23, and the second was in a 3-3 draw with Real on Sept. 7.
It's a good thing too because early on, Boateng was wearing some goat horns. In the 19th minute, he was adjudged to have fouled RSL midfielder Javier Morales in the box, even though it was Morales who initiated the contact. The penalty was dispatched by Plata, which momentarily tied the score at 1-1. But Boateng more than made amends with his brace.
The irony, of course, is that in an offseason when Galaxy manager Bruce Arena brought in stars such as Ashley Cole and Nigel de Jong as well as MLS veterans such as Mike Magee and Jeff Larentowicz, the acquisition of Boateng flew under the radar. Even so, Boateng has provided a needed bit of speed to the Galaxy lineup, and his arrival has proven to be the latest in a long line of astute decisions by Arena.
2. For RSL, recent form did matter
When the playoffs roll around, the same narratives often creep up. It's a new season, regular season form doesn't matter, you want to peak at the right time, etc. But for RSL, Wednesday's match was an instance when recent form proved an accurate predictor of playoff performance.
RSL looked like a team that had run out of gas -- and ideas -- in terms of its attack, and Wednesday proved no different. RSL had an advantage over LA in terms of shots taken (14 to eight), but the vast majority of those came with Real trying to play catch-up, and RSL was starved of the ball for long stretches. When the team needed luck -- like when Kyle Beckerman's second-half header cannoned off the bar -- there was precious little to be had.
Without question, manager Jeff Cassar could have made good use of a fully fit Yura Movsisyan, who has been hobbled by a heel injury for much of the second half of the season. Movsisyan entered the match in the 58th minute for a largely anonymous Juan Manuel Martinez but had little impact.
In many ways, it looks like RSL's season was a mixed bag. Granted, the team will be pleased to be back among the playoffs places after missing out in 2015, and for a while it hovered near the top of the Western Conference standings. But backing into the sixth and final playoff spot and then being eliminated at the first hurdle won't spark many memories of the time when RSL was widely regarded as part of the league's elite.
This is a team with plenty of work to do this offseason, in terms of adding complementary pieces, and there are questions as to how much longer its core of Nick Rimando, Kyle Beckerman and, in particular, Morales can keep going.