matheus nascimento

Matheus Nascimento and Joseph Paintsil each scored on Saturday night to help the Galaxy beat Minnesota United 2-1 in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Minnesota (16-8-10) is fourth in the Western Conference and will play fifth-seeded Seattle in the best-of-three first round of the MLS Cup playoffs.

Nascimento gave the Galaxy (7-18-9) the lead for good when he scored on a first-touch shot from the center of the area in the 12th minute.

Paintsil, on the counterattack, outraced the defense down the left sideline and then bounced a low shot off the far post and then slammed home his own rebound to make it 2-0 in the 52nd.

Joaquín Pereyra scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time for Minnesota.

A couple of minutes later, the Galaxy’s Edwin Cerrillo was shown a yellow card in the 67th and another, resulting in a red, in the seventh minute of stoppage time.

The Galaxy needed a regulation victory and win by at least two goals to qualify for the knockout-round quarterfinals of the Leagues Cup.

Mission accomplished.

Joseph Paintsil scored in the first minute and Matheus Nascimento tallied in the 39th minute to spark a 4-0 victory against overmatched Santos Laguna of Liga MX on Thursday night at Dignity Healthy Sports Park.

The Galaxy, which have endured a nightmarish season in MLS, played like a different team, setting the tempo early with Paintsil tucking in the ball at the right post thanks to an assist by Mauricio Cuevas.

The Galaxy struck again when a sliding Nascimento tapped in the ball past goalkeeper Carlos Acevedo off a long cross from Cuevas to make it 2-0.

In the 45th minute, Choco Lozano was shown his second yellow card to leave Santos Laguna short-handed.

Defender Maya Yoshida then added a goal during injury time to give the Galaxy a 3-0 advantage at the half. Yoshida collected a rebound after a long shot by Paintsil and buried it.

At the end of the first half, midfielder Ramiro Sordo was also shown a red card and Santos Laguna was left with nine players to open the second half.

Substitute Lucas Sanabria scored in the second half off a nice feed from Yoshida in the 74th minute for the Galaxy’s final goal.

The victory moved the Galaxy from the fifth seed among the MLS standings to the third seed, passing the Portland Timbers and No. 4 seed Orlando City.

The Leagues Cup quarterfinals — comprised of four MLS teams and four Liga MX teams — will be held Aug. 19-20. The Galaxy will take on Pachuca in the quarterfinal.

Joseph Paintsil had two goals, Matheus Nascimento also scored a goal and the Galaxy beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-0 on Friday night to snap a three-game winless streak.

The Galaxy (2-13-6), the defending MLS Cup champion, won for the first time since it beat Real Salt Lake 2-0 on May 31 to snap a 16-game winless streak to open the season. The Galaxy went into the game with 13 points, fewest in all of MLS.

The Whitecaps (11-4-5) have lost three of their last four. Vancouver is second in the Western Conference with 38 points, behind San Diego (39).

Edwin Cerrillo flicked a shot from 30 yards outs that was deflected by goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka and Nascimento put away the rebound with a first-touch finish to open the scoring in the second minute.

Paintsil made it 2-0 in the 60th. Gabriel Pec played an long arcing ball to the top of the penalty box, where Marco Reus tapped a first-touch pass to a wide-open Paintsil, who calmly flicked a shot inside the back post from the left side of the area.

Paintsil converted from the penalty spot in the 77th minute for his first career multi-goal game. The 27-year-old forward has three goals and one assist this season after he finished with 10 goals and 10 assists last season, his first in MLS.

Takaoka had five saves for Vancouver. Jayden Nelson was shown a yellow card in the 55th minute and another in stoppage time as the Whitecaps played a man down for the final few minutes.

Novak Micovic had a save for LA. The Galaxy had 55% possession and outshot Vancouver 12-6, 8-1 on target.

The Whitecaps beat the Galaxy 2-1 at home on March 2.