Not long ago, Galaxy’s 5-0 win on Saturday to open the Major League Soccer playoffs probably would have been enough to win a home-and-home series.

In the current MLS landscape, that opening win is just that — a win without an aggregate goal advantage for the Galaxy that will carry over into Friday’s second meeting against the Colorado Rapids.

“I miss those days,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “Each of these is one game at a time. There has never been a truer statement in the play-off scenario, this is not a knockout (game).

“The first game you win, it’s great, you’ve got it under your belt, but this will be a whole new game in a whole new environment and both teams will be looking back at the last game and going, ‘OK, what do we -liked it, what we didn’t like, what do we expect?’ And try to prepare our groups for what’s to come. It just takes one result for them to get right back into it.”

Each game in the best-of-three opening round is its own result. A Colorado victory (either in regulation or shootout) will force the series back to Dignity Health Sports Park for a winner-take-all Game 3 on November 9.

The Galaxy had a near-perfect performance in the opener, allowing just one hit.

“You have to play every game as it comes to you and you have to play every game to solve the problems of the day and get the result at the end of the day,” Vanney said.

The Galaxy last visited Colorado on Oct. 2 and came away with a 3-1 winhis first in Colorado since 2017.

“We have to expect a very different team when we go there (Friday),” Vanney said. “Obviously, it wasn’t that long ago when I played in Colorado. We expect a more aggressive team, a more physical team, a team that will try to disrupt us a lot more, so just be ready for that.

“Either they’re going to come pressing and pressing really hard, or they’re going to try to protect themselves a little bit and hurt us on the counter, but I suspect it’s going to be the former and they’re going to come out pretty. hard and see if they can upset us and get something early and try to get some momentum in this thing. But we just have to be prepared and solve the problems that come our way and try to create opportunities for ourselves on the other side.”