Familia

Antonio Campos carries the blood of his legendary father, former Galaxy and Mexican national team goalkeeper Jorge Campos. Perhaps more important, he carries his family’s resilience after they worked to recover from the loss of their home in the Palisades fire.

During Antonio Campos’ first season with the Cal State Fullerton soccer team, he seeks to write his own story and help his team win.

“Just being in college is a success. I feel blessed,” said Antonio, who is studying business while fighting for minutes as a Division I goalkeeper.

He was born in Los Angeles and grew up in the Pacific Palisades area, the second son of Jorge Campos and Canadian Marcy Raston. His sisters chose to focus on volleyball: Andrea, the eldest, recently signed with a professional club in France after a successful college career. Antonio, on the other hand, was torn between basketball and soccer. At Loyola High, he played point guard, although his height, at 6 feet, limited his minutes.

Antonio Campos stands besides his parents, Marcy Raston and Jorge Campos, while wearing Cal State Fullerton gear.

(Courtesy of Campos family)

“Michael Jordan inspired me to play several sports,” said Antonio, who also played baseball and volleyball.

Training sessions with his father during the COVID-19 pandemic led Antonio to eventually focus on soccer and the goalkeeper position.

“With my dad, everything is intense. Lots of training on the beach, reflexes, technique, cutting crosses. Things he did better than anyone else,” said Antonio, who does not shy away from his surname but does not want it to define him.

“I don’t feel pressure. I prefer to teach the values my father instilled in me,” Antonio said.

Galaxy goalkeeper Jorge Campos celebrates during a 1996 game against the San Jose Clash at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

(Getty Images)

He is part of the first generation in his family to attend college in the U.S. and he knows that his path extends beyond soccer.

In Mexico, Antonio also didn’t feel he had much of a future, as his own father, Jorge, criticized goalkeeper trainers in that country last year.

“It’s incredible that after 30 years, 40 years, we don’t have a modern goalkeeper, of that style, like Manuel Neuer, Ter Stegen,” Jorge said in a recent interview with ESPN.

Antonio was drawn to Cal State Fullerton as more than just a place to improve his soccer skills. The team’s philosophy, focused on service, ambition and personal development, resonated with him and his family.

“We emphasize being good people. If you go far, you’ll be better socially and culturally,” explained George Kuntz, the Titans’ veteran coach.

Antonio had had doubts about playing college soccer.

“I didn’t want to play at the university level because first-year goalkeepers hardly ever play,” he said.

However, he was assured that everyone would have real opportunities if they earned them through training.

Between the posts, he will have to fight for minutes against quality teammates Eoin Kennedy, Asger Hemmer and Emanuel Padilla. Fullerton opens the regular season on Thursday at Oral Roberts in Tulsa, Okla.

“I want to play, yes, but I also want my teammates to improve. It’s not just about me,” Antonio said.

In 2024, the Titans stood out for their offensive prowess, but they also ranked among the worst teams in the country in goals conceded. That’s why Fullerton reinforced its defense with four goalkeepers on the roster. Antonio is emerging as one of the promising players, with an athletic profile and an ambitious personality that has impressed the coaching staff.

“He’s brave, has good technique and is improving tactically,” Kuntz said.

Earlier this year, Antonio’s focus was pulled away from soccer by a family emergency.

In January, the Campos family home was one of more than 6,800 destroyed by the Palisades fire.

“We lost everything. I couldn’t get anything out,” said Antonio, who still gets emotional while talking about his family’s loss.

That day, he thought about going home, but he decided to go to soccer training after receiving a message from a friend. The change of plans kept him safe.

Antonio was accustomed to evacuations and didn’t worry about the nearby fires. But after learning that his home had burned down, the loss was both material and emotional.

“My mom was devastated. It was her first home in this country,” said Antonio, who highlighted his father’s strength.

“What surprised me was seeing my dad laughing and joking the next day. I never saw him cry. He set an example for us.”

Among the lost items, Antonio regrets he could not save a necklace that his uncle gave him before he died.

“He supported me when I quit basketball. He told me I was going to be a professional. It hurt me to lose that,” Antonio said.

However, the fire also brought the family closer together.

“The most important thing for me was that my family was safe,” Antonio said.

Now, the Campos family lives a few miles from Antonio’s new university while Antonio works to create his own story on the pitch — one that he hopes, like his father’s, can inspire others.

This article first appeared in Spanish via L.A. Times en Español.

Gloria Jiménez and Bruce Martin, leaders of a Galaxy supporter group called the Angel City Brigade, are certain this is no time to be quiet.

Since its founding in 2007, the Angel City Brigade, one of the Galaxy’s largest fan groups, has made its voice heard in sections 121 and 122 of Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson.

On Friday, during the typically festive Fourth of July fireworks game, Galaxy supporter groups decided to express their frustration and anger over seeing Southern California’s Latino community targeted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in recent weeks.

The fans say they are upset by the Galaxy management’s silence amid ICE’s presence in the Latino community. The majority of Galaxy fans are Latino, but the team has not issued any statements in support of fans, remaining as quiet as the Dodgers until the MLB team felt pressure and made a $1 million donation to benefit families impacted by the raids.

The Galaxy and representatives of the teams’ supporter groups have held closed-door talks, but it didn’t lead to a public statements by the club. Before the match against the Whitecaps on Thursday outside Dignity Health Sports Park, Angel City Brigade displayed signs that read “Stop the Raids,” “Free Soil” and “No One is Illegal.

At the end of the national anthem, “Victoria Block,” the section where most of the Galaxy’s fan groups stand, unfurled a tifo with three images: a farm worker; Roy Benavidez, a U.S. Army Medal of Honor recipient; and Elena Rios, president of the National Hispanic Health Foundation. At the bottom, the banner read: “Fight Ignorance, Not Immigrants.”

Members of the Angel City Brigade, including Gloria Jiménez, center, protest ICE raids in Southern California during the Galaxy’s game against Vancouver on Friday at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson.

(Jill Connelly/Especial para LA Times en Español)

During the 12th minute of the match, the Angel City Brigade left the stands in protest. Supporter groups the Galaxians and Galaxy Outlawz protested silently, carrying no drums or trumpets. They also did not sing or chant during the game.

“What’s going on in Los Angeles has nothing to do with the players. They know that. What’s going on in Los Angeles we don’t like,” Manuel Martínez, leader of the Galaxy Outlawz, said before the match. “I belong to a family of immigrants who became citizens. So we know the struggle that people go through. We know that there are hard working, innocent workers out there.”

The Riot Squad, on the other side of the stadium, also remained silent during and displayed a message that read: “We like our Whiskey Neat, and our Land and People Free.”

Members of the Angel City Brigade hold up a sign that reads “Smash Ice” during the Galaxy’s match against Vancouver on Friday at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson.

(Jill Connelly/Especial para LA Times en Español)

This is not the first time Galaxy fan groups have taken action when they were unhappy team management.

Angel City Brigade, along with other groups such as LA Riot Squad, Galaxy Outlawz and the Galaxians, led boycott while demanding the removal of then-team president Chris Klein following mismanagement and decisions they felt didn’t make the team competitive enough to win. Their effort paid off: Klein stepped down and new management eventually led the club to its sixth MLS championship secured at the end of last season.

On Friday, in addition to issuing a statement reaffirming their “non-discriminatory principles, which oppose exclusion and prejudice based on race, origin, gender identity, sexuality or gender expression,” the fans decided to organize a fundraiser to support pro-immigrant organizations affected by the Trump administration’s budget cuts: Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), Border Kindness and Immigrant Defenders Law Center.

To raise funds, they sold T-shirts with an image of a protester in Chinatown confronting an ICE agent.

“This is our way of showing that we want to help, and to fight what’s going on,” said Martin, a Los Angeles native.

The T-shirt sales raised $4,000 for the three organizations.

Previously, Angel City Brigade, like other Galaxy supporter groups, decided not to travel to the June 28 road match against the Earthquakes in San José as a precaution against the raids. About 600 Galaxy fans typically attend the road match.

“We have members who have not been able to work. We have members who have not been able to, go out to games or attend events. San José would have been one of them,” Jiménez said. “We decided that as a group, we couldn’t travel without leaving our brothers and sisters here. So in solidarity with the people who can’t attend because of fear of what’s going on, we decided to cancel the event.”

While the other two professional soccer teams in Los Angeles — LAFC and Angel City FC — have issued public statements in support of the Latino immigrant community, the Galaxy’s ownership has not addressed the issue. Angel City took its support further, wearing “Immigrant City Football Club” warm-up shirts, giving some shirts away to fans and selling more on its website as a fundraiser to support an organization that provides legal support for immigrants.

So far, the only member of the Galaxy who has addressed the issue publicly is head coach Greg Vanney.

“I think we all know someone who is probably affected by what’s going on, so it’s hard from a human standpoint not to have compassion for the families and those who are affected by what’s going on,” Vanney said prior to a game against St. Louis City SC in June.

“We have to really help each other, versus expecting others to do it,” Jiménez said. “That the support didn’t come from our team, as we expected, broke our hearts into a thousand pieces.”

In the past, the Galaxy and supporter groups have collaborated while celebrating various Latin American countries, incorporating their cultural symbols into team merchandise. But amid the Galaxy’s silence, fans are starting to doubt the sincerity of the cultural celebrations.

“It’s sad and disappointing to me. This team that has been in Los Angeles since the mid-1990s, and they’ve leveraged the culture for publicity. When they signed [Mexican soccer star] Chicharito for example, they were strong on Mexican culture and things like that. So when this all started, you would think that they would be for their culture, that they would be there for the fans,” Jiménez said. “And by not saying anything, it doesn’t say that they really care about it. Families are being torn apart and they just stay silent.”

Jiménez said there isn’t a day that goes by that she doesn’t cry or feel anger about the ICE raids.

“We already know what we are to them, we are not friends or family,” she said of the Galaxy. “We are fans and franchise.”

Martin said he has received messages on social media, including from Galaxy fans and supporters of other teams, criticizing his stance. However, Angel City Brigade said its members made a unanimous decision to protest.

“We have always had moments where we have a very clear vision about how we feel,” Jiménez said. “And I think this is one of the times when everyone has made the same decision.”

Galaxy fans plan to stage more protests during the team’s next home match.

This article first appeared in Spanish via L.A. Times en Español.