Once the most successful, most influential and most iconic franchise in American soccer, the team is just a shell of its former self, the club crest the only surviving link between then and now.
The team bottomed out in Saturday’s 3-0 loss in Houston, leaving it winless after six games and marking its worst start ever. No team in MLS has fewer wins or fewer points and only one has fewer goals than the Galaxy (0-3-3).
But the numbers tell just part of the story. The Galaxy’s supporters groups are boycotting the team over the re-signing of president Chris Klein, who has been suspended by MLS; the team is banned from adding any international players in the summer transfer window; and during Saturday’s loss, two of its most important veterans were red-carded, leaving it to finish the game with nine players.
The team has no identity, no leadership, no direction and seemingly no hope. It’s been such a complete meltdown that even the man hired to turn things around can do little more than apologize, with coach Greg Vanney calling the team’s performance in Houston “unacceptable” and “disrespectful to our brand and to who we want to be.”
“It won’t happen again,” he promised.
At least Vanney offered his thoughts and prayers. None of his players were as accountable with the media, highlighting the growing disconnect between the coaching staff and its players.
While the coaches have remained disciplined and focused, the players have not, with defender Martín Cáceres, a four-time World Cup performer, getting ejected for putting his hands on the referee during a VAR review and midfielder Douglas Costa, a former Brazilian international, getting red-carded for grabbing Houston’s Brooklyn Raines around the neck and throwing him to the turf with seconds left in stoppage time.
Costa, who is getting paid $4.5 million, has nearly as many red cards — three — as goals — four — 29 games into his MLS career. The team may not have quit on Vanney, but some players certainly don’t appear to be trying very hard.
And things are about to get worse. On Sunday, the Galaxy will be missing their two red-carded players and their boycotting supporters groups when they host crosstown rival LAFC, the unbeaten MLS champion and the team that has replaced the Galaxy as the league’s model franchise. Dignity Health Sports Park figures to be a sea of black and gold for that game, just the second since 2014 between a winless team and an unbeaten one this deep into a season, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
How embarrassing.
(Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press)
The current troubles are the continuation of a slide that began in 2017, when, in the wake of coach Bruce Arena’s departure for the national team, Dan Beckerman, the president and chief executive of AEG, the Galaxy’s parent company, trimmed $10 million in designated-player salary, cut the overall payroll in half and gave homegrown players and graduates of the team’s academy system nearly 40% of the playing time.
The result was the worst season in franchise history; the Galaxy still have not recovered.
After eight consecutive playoff appearances, three MLS Cups and two Supporters’ Shields under Arena, the team has made the playoffs just twice since, losing more games than it has won. Vanney, a member of the Galaxy’s first team in 1996, was brought in three seasons ago to rebuild the team’s winning culture, but he’s lost as many games he’s won and made the postseason just once.
He’s the fourth head coach the team has had since Beckerman’s overhaul in 2017 — and the fourth without a winning record.
Now the team has pinned its hopes for revival on another savior, last week naming Will Kuntz, who played a big part in LAFC’s success, its senior vice president of player personnel. Before joining LAFC seven years ago, Kuntz was an executive with the New York Yankees, helping that team to a World Series title in 2009.
He’s a proven winner but the fact that he was hired as an addition to the front office and not as a replacement for any of those responsible for the team’s failures suggests that Beckerman either doesn’t care or doesn’t understand the depths to which his team has sunk.
The Galaxy are broken and the current leadership clearly has no idea how to fix things. It’s past time to clean house and start over again.