Gareth Bale hadn’t played a minute during the postseason, and it didn’t appear that he would as MLS Cup entered extra time tied 2-2.
Bale was LAFC’s marquee summer addition, but injuries and fitness limited him to just 347 minutes and only two starts among his 12 appearances leading up to the biggest game of the season.
Philadelphia Union captain Alejandro Bedoya even joked about it leading up to the game, saying Bale “barely plays.”
The Union probably aren’t laughing much now.
In one of the wildest MLS Cups we’ll ever see, Bale came on in extra time and headed home a season-saving goal for 10-man LAFC to send the game to penalties, where they would prevail 3-0 and lift MLS Cup.
The circumstances were one of a kind. The Union appeared to have won the Cup after Jack Elliott scored in the 124th minute to give Philadelphia a 3-2 lead.
But with an incredible nine minutes of stoppage time in extra time after Maxime Crépeau’s horror injury there was still hope for LAFC, though they were down to 10 men after Crépeau was sent off for denying an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
That was enough time for Bale to deliver a signature moment, getting up high and dunking on Elliott to nod home a cross from Diego Palacios and send Banc of California Stadium into convulsions.
It may be true that he barely plays, but Bale did the most with his brief time on the pitch on Saturday. It ended up with yet another trophy in a highly decorated career.
Watch Bale’s goal in MLS Cup
GARETH BALE EQUALIZES IN STOPPAGE TIME OF EXTRATIME!! #MLSCUP pic.twitter.com/iWqfU9FAWG
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) November 5, 2022
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