Playoffs “strange” for Olivier Giroud, but he wants the MLS Cup title

Olivier Giroud has played in two World Cup finals, won both a Champions League and a Europa League title and scored more goals for France than any other player in history.

There aren't many things in football that he hasn't experienced.

However, Sunday brings something new: the playoffs. In Europe, where Giroud spent all but the last three months of his 20-year professional career, a place at the top of the league means you are the champion. In the MLS, where he plays now, that just means you've qualified for the playoffs, where everyone starts over.

It can be difficult to understand this concept.

“I asked the boys to explain it to me. And now I understand that if we get through this first knockout stage, we will play the conference semi-finals, then the final and then there is an MLS Cup final,” Giroud said. “That's it.

“It’s different for me, so I have to adapt. It's American style. You finish the regular season in first place and can then be eliminated two weeks later (in the playoffs). It's a bit strange. But it is what it is.”

LAFC opens the postseason at BMO Stadium against the Vancouver Whitecaps in the first game of a best-of-three series. The teams are familiar rivals and have met nine times in the last two years, including in the first round of last season's playoffs. LAFC is 6-1-2 in those nine games.

The Galaxy, who joined LAFC at the top of the conference standings but were seeded second in the playoffs on a tiebreaker, face the Colorado Rapids on Saturday in their postseason opener at Dignity Health Sports Park. This series is also a best-of-three game, while the next three playoff rounds, including the MLS Cup Final, are single-elimination games.

“We’re not just happy to be in the playoffs. “We actually believe we have a team that can compete to win the championship,” said Galaxy coach Greg Vanney, whose team won both regular-season games with Colorado. “We have to go out and perform now and it's a whole process to get to that moment. And it won't be an easy process.

“Now we have to go.”

Giroud will be looking for his first MLS goal in the playoffs, although since joining the team last summer he scored in both the League Cup and US Open finals and had three assists in 10 regular-season games. And he's not the only LAFC player who had to have the playoffs explained to him. In fact, he's not even the only former France international who wasn't entirely clear on the idea.

“It will be a new experience for me, especially in this round,” said goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, the all-time record player Les Bleus. “Best of three? It's something really new. I know what to expect for the other rounds. But this round is really interesting.”

LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo grew up in San Diego but spent most of his playing and coaching career in Germany, where the concept of a postseason playoff is a foreign concept. But he said it wasn't hard to explain.

“I guess we could meet again after the playoffs and see if there are any misunderstood concepts or rules, but it's pretty simple,” said Cherundolo, whose roster includes players from 16 countries. “We communicate everything. That’s probably the standard of every club at this stage of the season.”

Galaxy forward Marco Reus controls the ball in front of LAFC defender Aaron Long during a game on September 14.

(Ryan Sun/Associated Press)

But few of those clubs have adapted to the playoffs better than LAFC, which has missed the postseason just once in its seven seasons and is aiming to become the first team to appear in three consecutive MLS Cup finals since the New England Revolution in 2007.

Under Cherundolo, who is in his third season with LAFC, the team has never had a season finish anywhere other than the league championship game. And in two of those three years, the team finished the regular season atop the Western Conference standings.

For the Galaxy, however, the playoffs have become a rare treat as Saturday's game marks just their third postseason appearance since 2016. LAFC and the Galaxy both finished 19-8-7 and swapped the conference lead three times in the final 11 minutes of stoppage time of the regular season last weekend before LAFC secured first place by a razor-thin margin, the goal difference tiebreaker, and the Denied the Galaxy their first conference title in 13 years.

Vanney said it was a disappointment that his team would be heading into the series against Colorado.

“The result is a reminder that at this time of year every game counts and every game is valuable,” he said. “The playoffs are a battle. You don't take anything for granted. That will be a real challenge.”

And the last team standing at the end of this challenge will be crowned champions, a concept that even Giroud and his teammates don't need to have explained. Although there's one more thing that's been new to MLS since then, this crown also comes with another piece of jewelry: a championship ring.

“We got one when we won the World Cup,” Giroud said. “I just keep it in a box. It's beautiful, but I can't wear it. I don't have an MLS ring and that's what I'm looking for.

“I really want this ring.”