Vanney

Mark Delgado has known Greg Vanney since he was 13.

“We’re definitely close,” the LAFC midfielder said of the coach he played for in three MLS Cup finals.

So it’s been difficult for Delgado to watch from afar as Vanney’s Galaxy team, the one Delgado played for last season, has struggled through the worst start in franchise history.

“I definitely hope, personally, things go better for him,” Delgado said of Vanney, who got a multiyear contract extension Friday, one that reportedly makes him the best-paid manager in MLS. “I hope Greg can get things turned around.”

As long as that turnaround starts next weekend since Delgado returns Sunday to Dignity Health Sports Park for the first time since December’s MLS Cup final. Only this time he’ll be wearing the black and gold of LAFC, the Galaxy’s bitter rival.

“Yeah, definitely. I want to come out on top,” he said. “It’s kind of a weird situation. You don’t wish them too well because you want to do well yourself.”

A weird situation is also an apt description of Delgado’s last five months. Six weeks after capping a career-best season by assisting on the winning goal in the Cup final, Delgado was traded 12 miles up the Harbor Freeway to LAFC, a sacrifice to the league’s paltry salary cap.

The Galaxy (0-10-3) haven’t won since but Delgado has thrived. Not only did LAFC (6-4-3) give him a multiyear contract with a raise from the $876,250 he made last season, but he’s tied for the team lead with three assists and is one of just three players to appear in all 13 MLS games for a team that hasn’t lost a league game in six weeks and is fifth in the Western Conference table.

And he’s done that despite playing under a coach not named Greg Vanney for just the second time in 11 seasons.

Galaxy coach Greg Vanney celebrates after a win over Seattle in the Western Conference final on Nov. 30. The defending MLS Cup champion Galaxy is winless through its first 13 games of the season.

(Etienne Laurent / Associated Press)

“Coming to a new team, a different view of things, may take a little time,” said Delgado, who played under Vanney in Toronto and with the Galaxy after breaking in as a teenager with Chivas USA, where Vanney was an assistant coach. “I’m a guy who can take in information and change on the fly as well. I think my ability to do things passing and how I see the field, [my] work rate covering ground, helps.”

His leadership and experience is also important. Although he just turned 30 on May 9, Delgado is in his 14th MLS season and his 340 appearances, including playoffs, ranks ninth among active players, according to Transfermarkt. No other LAFC player is close.

He’s also the only man to have played for all three of Southern California’s MLS teams, Chivas USA, the Galaxy and LAFC. Yet none of that, he said, has prepared him for changing sides in El Tráfico.

“It is definitely a different look,” he said. “But at the end of the day it’s a Derby. Once that whistle blows and we’re on the field, I’m locked in.”

The crosstown rivalry has grown into the most passionate in MLS but most of that bad blood is felt in the stands. On the field, Delgado said, the feeling is more one of mutual admiration regardless of the colors you’re wearing.

“I don’t know what goes on between the two fans bases, but I know as players there’s a level of respect. Everyone has their own journey of getting here. Everyone has their own battles,” he said.

And his fight Sunday will be for LAFC. So while he feels for his former teammates, he’d like nothing better than to see them suffer for at least one more week.

“I have an emotional attachment with the club over there. But I’m over here, right?” he said. “I have duties over here and I’m working on doing my part and finding success for this club.”

The Galaxy have re-signed coach Greg Vanney to a multiyear contract extension, the team announced Friday, ending speculation over the coach’s future the team.

Vanney, 50, led the Galaxy to their sixth MLS title last season, triggering a one-season contract extension. But the team (0-10-3) is winless in its first 13 games this season, the worst start in franchise history, heading in Sunday’s match with cross-rival LAFC.

In four-plus seasons the Galaxy are 54-56-39 in MLS play under Vanney.

In addition to extending Vanney’s contract, the team also hired Ravi Ramineni as director of quantitative analysis, promoted former midfielder Juninho to the newly created position of special adviser to the general manager and promoted Zack Murshedi to director of team administration and player care.

The moves, a team spokesperson said, “reflect a real commitment to the team’s vision.”

“Greg is one of the most respected and successful coaches in MLS history and we are excited to be continuing under his leadership,” general manager Will Kuntz said in a statement. “While this season’s results haven’t reflected our standards, this was a decision made following our 2024 MLS Cup victory and we remain confident in the project we are building with Greg.”

The team had a magical season in 2024, matching a modern-era franchise record with 19 victories and going unbeaten at Dignity Health Sports Park. After finishing in the penultimate spot in the Western Conference standings the season before, the Galaxy tied for the top spot last season, becoming the first team since 2011 to go from second to last in the conference to the MLS Cup in one season.

It was also the first team in MLS history to have four players — Riqui Puig, Gabriel Pec, Joseph Paintsil and Dejan Joveljic — reach double digits in goals scored.

This season has been the opposite. Salary-cap issues aggravated by the team’s success in 2024 forced Kuntz to trade MLS Cup MVP Gastón Brugman, valuable midfielder Mark Delgado and Joveljic, who led the team with six goals in the playoffs. The Galaxy have also missed Puig, their midfield playmaker and assists leader, who hasn’t played since tearing his ACL in last November’s conference championship game.

They did return 11 of the 14 players who appeared in December’s MLS Cup final, but injuries have forced nine players to the sidelines for multiple games. As a result Pec and Paintsil, who combined for 26 goals and 24 assists last season, have just one goal and three assists this season for a team that has been shut out six times.

Only three MLS teams have fewer goals than the Galaxy’s 10 and no club has conceded more goals than the 31 the Galaxy have allowed. The -21 goal differential is also worst in the league.

Vanney, 50, a defender on the Galaxy’s original roster in 1996, played 10 seasons in MLS, making 193 of his 270 league appearances during two stints with the Galaxy, with whom he won three Western Conference titles, a Supporters’ Shield, MLS Cup and a CONCACAF Champions Cup. He also played 37 times for the U.S. national team, making the 2002 World Cup roster before being forced out of the tournament with an injury.

Vanney began his coaching career as an assistant with Chivas USA in 2011 and got his first managerial job with Toronto after Ryan Nelsen was fired with 10 games left in the 2014 season.

In his first full season as coach, Vanney guided Toronto to its first playoff berth. A year later, it played in the first of three MLS Cup finals under Vanney, winning the title in 2017.