Galaxy don't have an excuse for winless start: ‘They shouldn't be this bad'
Maybe it's a jinx. Or a curse. Or simply just bad luck.
However you describe it, it's clear that winning the MLS Cup hasn't brought the Galaxy the momentum they had hoped for because they haven't won an MLS game since then.
With three points through eight games the Galaxy (0-5-3) are off to the worst start in franchise history and the worst start ever by a reigning MLS champion, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
They've led just once this season, have the worst goal differential in the league and are already eight points out of a playoff spot. Coming off a golden season, everything they touch turns to bronze. On Saturday the team tried to celebrate its title by giving away replicas of their MLS championship rings but even that gesture was jinxed — the team only had 10,000 rings for a crowd of nearly 24,000.
Predictably, fans were not happy.
Things didn't get much better when the game started, with the Galaxy going down a goal in the 14th minute and down a man in the 28th minute when Zanka drew a well-deserved red card. They eventually rallied to earn a 1-1 draw with the hapless, one-win Houston Dynamo.
'No excuses,' coach Greg Vanney said. 'We have to stop putting ourselves in holes and then trying to figure our way out. It's got to get cleaned up. It's got to get fixed.'
But even with no wins, Vanney's team has reason to hope. The only other defending MLS champion to go winless through eight games, the 2003 Galaxy, won its ninth game and went on to make the playoffs.
Alexi Lalas, who played on that 2003 team, said this year's Galaxy need to put last season behind them.
'Obviously there is an inevitable hangover after a championship season. You find yourself trying to recapture the magic but the dynamic inevitably has changed,' he said. 'Trades, sales, injuries can all contribute to the new and unfamiliar reality.
'This Galaxy team needs to stop worrying about being another version of what they were and be the best version of what they are.'
All the factors Lalas mentioned have certainly influenced the team's dreadful start. Over the winter the team sold Dejan Joveljic, its leading scorer in the playoffs, and traded midfielders Mark Delgado and Gastón Brugman, the MLS Cup MVP. It started without midfielder Riqui Puig, the team's most important player, who tore his anterior cruciate ligament in the postseason, then lost six other starters for multiple games to injury.
None of that can be used as an excuse, though, since other teams have dealt with similar setbacks without imploding.
Winning also brings additional challenges in terms of bonuses and other payments that forced the team to rebuild a roster that didn't need to be rebuilt just to squeeze it under the league's salary cap. But others have managed to overcome that too: Three teams in the last eight seasons have won the MLS Cup one season and made it back to the final the next year.
'The narrative of blaming the league rules and framing it as inevitable, something the Galaxy at times seems to be promoting themselves, can become a self-fulfilling prophecy,' said Lalas, who served as the Galaxy's president before becoming soccer analyst for Fox Sports. 'There is enough talent and experience on this Galaxy team to be at least competitive.
'They may not recapture the magic from last year but they shouldn't be this bad.'
The Galaxy proved that in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, beating Costa Rican champion Herediano before narrowly losing to Tigres UANL, the Liga MX runner-up. And they did despite the trades, sales, injuries and salary-cap issues.
Diego Fagúndez, who captained the Galaxy against Houston and scored the team's only goal Saturday in his 400th MLS appearance, agrees the team needs to stop looking for scapegoats and start looking for solutions.
'I think it's details,' he said. 'I've been saying this now for the past two weeks: Pay attention to details. Because those are what's killing us.'
The season isn't over for the Galaxy. In 2009 the Columbus Crew went winless through seven games yet would end up finishing atop the Eastern Conference. The year before Houston was winless through six games and rallied to win the Western Conference. Such a climb might be a bit too steep for the Galaxy but with 18 of the 30 MLS teams making the playoffs, a postseason berth shouldn't be out of the question.
And Fagúndez says there's a simple way for the Galaxy to achieve even that modest goal.
'We need to start winning games.'
⚽ You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week's episode of the 'Corner of the Galaxy' podcast.
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