Joseph Paintsil had his best performance of the 2025 season Friday night, scoring a brace in LA Galaxy’s 3-0 win over Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
His mother gets the assist.
“As you can see I was also doing everything for my mom today and my kid, and I was putting more effort, running everywhere to defend, and I knew that it’s going to happen, it's really going to happen” Paintsil said after the match, the first his mother has been to in more than a decade.
"She was in Belgium when I came to LA, so she couldn’t also see me play, so I think it’s an amazing moment for me and for my family that I just had these two goals, and I really thank God for everything.”
Paintsil enjoyed a breakout inaugural season in MLS last season. He had 10g/10a during the regular season, and scored another four goals in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs, helping the Galaxy win MLS Cup 2024.
But that form hasn’t carried over to this season, with Paintsil scoring just once in his first 13 matches. But a pair of goals against the Whitecaps could be the jumping-off point he needed.
“I think with anybody, whether it’s a goal scorer or shooter in basketball, with anybody, once you find your rhythm, and you get the confidence and you get that flow, you hope things start to drop for you,” LA Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “I feel like with Joe, I feel like tonight was a good night, and we’ll see if we can start to build some momentum with him. It’s a good thing for him for sure.”
Reus instrumental again
Matheus Nascimento got the party started early with his second goal of the season before Paintsil doubled the Galaxy’s lead on the hour mark and added his second from the penalty spot in the 77th minute to secure what Vanney called “our most complete game on the year.”
Marco Reus was again instrumental in the win, setting up Paintsil with a no-look pass to make it 2-0. The German veteran now has 11 goal contributions (4g/7a) in his last 11 matches played.
“He’s smarter than everybody else. That’s what it comes down to. He sees the game. He knows what’s happening in the game. He knows what the next play looks like. He knows what you should be doing, the next guy should be doing, the defender,” Vanney said.
“The game is already flowing through his brain. So he can play in anticipation when the rest of the players are playing in the moment. He’s already played out what’s going to happen next, next and next, right? So he can kind of play at his own rhythm and his own rhythm is faster still than everybody else's. It’s a joy to watch.”
The Galaxy remain at the bottom of the Western Conference with 12 points from 21 matches, but they’ve secured eight points from their last five matches (2W-1L-2D) ahead of hosting D.C. United on July 12 (10:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass).
And Paintsil's mother is staying in LA for the next four months.
“Tonight is a little bit of an exclamation point on what we’re capable of doing,” Vanney said. “But we have a lot of things to do from us to continue to build momentum with this group of players.”
