Marco Reus Sets Up Three Goals as the Galaxy Rout Austin FC

The 4-1 home finale left the Galaxy seventh in the West before a Decision Day trip to Real Salt Lake.

Marco Reus set up three goals, and the LA Galaxy beat Austin FC 4-1 on Saturday at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson. The club said the result put the Galaxy seventh in the Western Conference on 44 points, one ahead of Colorado and Seattle, which both still had weekend games to play.

The final score came in the Galaxy's regular-season home finale. The club called it their highest-scoring game of the year. There's one game left: at Real Salt Lake on Nov. 7. Coach Greg Vanney said in comments the club released that he was glad the Galaxy won't have to watch anybody else's scoreboard. If they handle their own game, they control their own fate.

One number tells most of the story: 10 shots on goal for the Galaxy, 2 for Austin, according to the club's box score. Galaxy goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski made one save all afternoon. Austin's Damian Las made six.

That number doesn't show how little Austin had left to play for. The Austin American-Statesman reported that this is Austin's third season out of the postseason in the last four, and that the team arrived on short rest. Veteran Ilie Sánchez had played 90 minutes on Wednesday, while the Galaxy had five days off. Apple TV's cameras caught one Austin supporter in the stands with "Believed" scrawled on the paper bag over his head, the Statesman reported.

Sánchez's bad pass started the scoring, the Sporting Tribune reported: Harbor Miller, a 19-year-old homegrown defender, picked it off and set up João Klauss. Klauss finished in the 10th minute for his 10th league goal, according to the club, and Miller ended up with two assists, the first time he's had more than one goal or assist in an MLS game.

Hirving Lozano started for the first time since an injury on duty with Mexico's national team, and he headed in Reus' cross at the back post in the 38th minute. "I was a little bit afraid because of the injury," Lozano told the Sporting Tribune. He came off at halftime. His replacement, Robert Taylor, scored against his former club three minutes later.

Austin's interim coach, Davy Arnaud, used the game to look at his young players, the Statesman reported, and one of them got Austin's only goal. Ervin Torres, 18, curled a shot from distance into the top corner in the 54th minute. Twelve minutes later, Reus headed a Klauss pass into the path of Sergi Roberto for Roberto's first Galaxy goal. By the club's count, that's a dozen goals and assists for Reus across his past nine games.

Vanney didn't oversell it. "I could say we didn't have a great day today, but we still were able to win 4-1," he said. Galaxy fans will read that as a team that can win by three on an off day. Austin fans may read it as a team that was already done.

Real Salt Lake is two points behind the Galaxy, and a win in Sandy, Utah, would put LA in the playoffs, the Sporting Tribune reported. Vanney is expecting a fight from what he called "a team playing for their life at home."

Source: lagalaxy.com, retrieved November 1, 2026. Other sources: sports.yahoo.com, sports.yahoo.com (2).