LA Galaxy return to MLS mountaintop: "We're back"

CARSON, Calif. – The pitch at Dignity Health Sports Park looked like something out of a Renaissance painting as LA Galaxy players, staff and executives flooded out onto the grass after referee Guido Gonzales, Jr. blew his whistle for the final time, bringing MLS Cup 2024 presented by Audi to a close.

Every interaction, every embrace, every smile across the playing surface carried its own story. Injured talisman Riqui Puig was everywhere, grinning, hugging teammates and brandishing his jersey, this time adorned with a 6 to commemorate LA’s sixth league title instead of his usual No. 10, to the teeming masses in the Victoria Block supporters section.

Head coach Greg Vanney and general manager Will Kuntz, two key architects of this rapidly reinvigorated squad, shared a hug as they crossed paths in the swirling crowd of humanity, their mission to restore the Gs to their previous place at the top of the MLS mountaintop accomplished after Saturday's 2-1 win over New York Red Bulls.

“The quality of soccer and the group and the quality of players, style of play, all those things that this group has shown, has shown that the quality is there and the quality is back,” said Vanney in his postgame press conference.

“But at the Galaxy, it's about winning championships. And I think going into this week, that was the thing we've proven,” he added, “that we're back as an organization, and now it's to prove that we're back as champions and on top again. And these guys did it. They cemented their legacy at what is a club with incredible history and legacy, and I'm proud of them. It will bond them together as a group forever.”

Collective effort

At first, midfield veteran and local product Mark Delgado simply sat down on the field, for a long time nearly motionless, spent from 90-plus minutes of hard graft. While lauded attackers Joseph Paintsil and Dejan Joveljić got the goals and the spotlight that accompanies them, it was the engine-room labor of Delgado, man of the match Gastón Brugman and Edwin Cerrillo that had asserted the pitch control needed to subdue the Red Bulls.

That cuts in marked contrast to the flowing, wide-open soccer the Galaxy had conjured up for most of the season and underlines the steely resolve just under their surface.

“Listen, I got the callup, I did what I could for the team. I got an assist, I ran my ass off,” Delgado later told MLSsoccer.com, both fatigue and fulfillment evident in his demeanor after his fourth career MLS Cup final, seven years on from winning the 2017 edition with Vanney at Toronto FC.

“It was another championship. I know what it takes. I've been here now four times – this one just kind of hits different, right? This one hits home. I’m from the LA area. I grew up coming to these games, watching these games with my family, watching Cobi Jones, and now to be on the field wearing the crest, wearing the jersey and now adding a sixth star to this badge, there's no feeling like it.”

Tight-knit group

A couple dozen meters to Delgado’s left, goalkeeper John McCarthy grabbed equipment manager Raúl Vargas and propelled him towards the supporters’ section, pointing at the beloved club icon who’s been with the Galaxy since year one, way back in 1996, with a handful – literally – of championship rings to prove it.

Those who spend the most time at 18400 Avalon Blvd, players and fans alike, revere Vargas, an unassuming type whose daily grind provides the team with a foundation for performance. They know how important he and others like him are to the survival, let alone success, of their club; they are its institutional memory, its culture personified.

“When you have a full group fully invested in the team and the bigger picture, it makes a huge difference,” said McCarthy, the first player to win this title with both the Galaxy and their crosstown rivals LAFC, in LA’s beer- and champagne-soaked locker room. “When you have a good group of guys and not really any a--holes, if they're fully invested, and everyone gets along well on and off the field, it makes a huge difference.”

Vanney had spoken earlier in the week of the team’s desire to add a sixth ring so Vargas’ collection could expand to a second hand, one more spark of motivation in what turned out to be a winning constellation. Sharp elbows, competing egos and self-interest are often woven into the fabric of a so-called big club. But this Galaxy group feels something different, something more.

“Oh, my God, this is a true family in here,” explained homegrown defender Jalen Neal. “Sometimes the season can get long and you can kind of dread some days coming to the stadium, thinking, ‘Oh, I have to see the same people over and over again.’ But these guys make me want to come to the stadium every single day. They keep me motivated. They keep challenging me. They keep pushing me.

“I mean, you can see it all around. Everyone in this group is like a family, whether it's from players, staff, front office, everyone. It's literally family.”

Championship-caliber signings

The Gs have long been associated with big names, the likes of Puig, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Robbie Keane, David Beckham – the glitz befitting a town known for stagecraft and star power. Yet in reality, DHSP is a long way south of Hollywood proper; the complex sits among blue-collar suburbs, streets lined with modest houses, home to working people who constitute the bedrock of greater Los Angeles’ sprawling economy.

There were echoes of that in LA’s Designated Player signings last winter, Paintsil and Gabriel Pec. Though they arrived on hefty transfer fees reportedly totaling around $20 million, they’re talents on the rise, not aging veterans.

“When the DP spots opened up, we didn't necessarily go look for guys with big names and huge careers already that are kind of behind them. We went for guys that are hungry and super talented and athletic and fit our style of play, which is important,” said Vanney.

“They fit with the guys that we had, and we knew they were going to help make those guys better and make our team better. And we tried to build on a vision that these guys, they came here, again, with the desire to win, but also with the desire to keep improving and to keep building on their careers as well.”

It’s telling that Marco Reus, a decorated German star with enormous experience on Europe’s biggest stages, quietly slotted into Vanney’s squad when he arrived in midseason, adapting himself to his new surroundings with no semblance of ego, starting barely half of the matches in which he appeared. A groin issue limited him to a substitute’s role on Saturday, but that just opened the door for Brugman to step up and play hero.

“When I was coming four months ago, I had the feeling that with this group, we are special,” he said after Saturday’s win, his remarks to reporters occasionally interrupted by teammates dumping cold beer on his head. “I mean, it was a tight game at the end, to be honest. But at the end, we won the trophy and we are very, very proud.

“The characters, the mentality of the team – of course, you have a lot of ups and downs during the season, but especially now in these playoffs, we come together. We say we can do it, we can do it, but we have to stick together and trust in each other. And yeah, we did it.”

The Galaxy’s glory has been restored. But this redemption story owes just as much to the role players as the headliners, as John Nelson, who down the stretch won the starting left back job ahead of Julián Aude, a highly talented U22 initiative import, noted.

“That's why we're so good. This team is so deep. No, I think that's why we're champions,” Nelson said. “One thing I would say is, we're brothers here: the culture, everything, we fight for each other, and it shows on the field.”