MLS Preview: LA Galaxy

Hooligan Soccer

·08 de fevereiro de 2025

MLS Preview: LA Galaxy

Club History

Every league has one of THOSE clubs. You know the one. They always have all the chips; get dealt all the right cards. They seemingly exist in a bubble of their own awesomeness, and make supporters of any other club grind their teeth in frustration.

LA Galaxy is that club.

Vídeos OneFootball

One of the original 10 MLS clubs, their name is a nod to Los Angeles’ density of movie “stars”… get it? 30 years on and it’s still cringe. What’s not cringe is how dominant the team was, never finishing worse than 2nd place in their initial seven years, with four MLS Cup appearances and one win.

It hasn’t been all glitter and rainbows, however. There was dismal three stretch between 2006-08, and they’ve only qualified for the postseason three of the past eight seasons. In 2023, they were written off as a joke and finished 26th overall. Their top scorer only had seven goals.

But this is Hollywood, baby, and of course the Galaxy turned it around to win the Cup in 2024, just as they recovered their 06-08 malaise by winning three Cups in four years (2011, 12 & 14).

Ownership

You’ve seen the name in previous articles, and their grubby ‘lil fingerprints are everywhere in the MLS. Yes, I’m referring to the seemingly ubiquitous AEG (Anschutz Entertainment Group). They own the LA Galaxy.

Notable Players

Seriously, there are so many to choose from (domestic or international) that picking any five would be unfair. So here’s a quick list (in alphabetical order by last name). You can look them up if you need to….

Julián Araujo, David Beckham, Jorge Campos, Ashley Cole, Landon Donovan, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Steven Gerrard, Kevin Hartman, Luis Hernández, Javier “Chicharito” Hernández, Cobi Jones, Nigel de Jong, Robbie Keane, Alexi Lalas, Riqui Puig, Marco Reus, Carlos Ruiz, Giovani dos Santos, Jonathan dos Santos, Greg Vanney.

Other Facts

(Source)

Their home stadium is the 27,000 capacity Dignity Health Sports Park (pictured above). Under 2003 they played in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA
Despite their name, they do not play in the city of Los Angeles, but rather in the nearby city of Carson, CA.
Compete in the best-named derby ever… El Tráfico, against local rivals LAFC.
Have won six MLS Cups, the most of any team.
They also won the MLS Wooden Spoon award (given to the team with the worst overall record) in 2017. To their credit, they displayed it in the club’s trophy case before passing it along to the San Jose Earthquakes in 2018.
Their 73% postseason qualification percentage is the best among teams with more than five years in the MLS.

2024 Season Recap

Crushed it. Winning the MLS Cup for a record-breaking 6th time is as good as it gets, though scoring a record-breaking 18 goals doing it is a tasty cherry on top.

19W – 7D – 8L. 2nd in the Western Conference; 4th overall.
Tied with LAFC on points, but the latter’s goal differential was +20 to the Galaxy’s +19, giving them the top spot.

Who to Watch 2025

In addition to the regular MLS season, Galaxy will have to compete for the CONCACAF Champion’s Cup and the Leagues Cup. It remains to be seen if they will participate in the US Open Cup.

Riqui Puig (Spain) – Midfielder A dynamic playmaker who had 23 contributions in 2024 (13 goals; 10 assists).
Gabriel Pec (Brazil) – Forward This young Designated Player has 21 goals in 41 appearances so far.
Marco Reus (Germany) – Midfielder A late transfer in 2024, this is the season where he can really make his mark.
The young kids… these are all players who transferred in from Venture County FC, the MLS Next Pro wing of the Galaxy: Harbor Miller (United States) – Defender Ascel Essengue (Cameroon) – Midfielder Isaiah Parente (United States) – Midfielder Rubén Ramos (United States) – Midfielder

First Match

They kick off the 2025 season on Sunday, Feb. 23rd when they host the new expansion team San Diego.

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