MLS Preview: The LA Galaxy

By: Laurie | March 19th, 2008

Today I’m bringing you a preview of my team, the LA Galaxy. (Motto: We may be over-hyped, but we’re trying desperately not to be over-rated. And we do so deserve to go to all those fun and exotic tournaments! )

If you have any interest in the team, even in a trainwreck kind of way, I’d love to see you stop by LA Galaxy Offside, where a lovingly irreverent time will be had by all. And while you’re at it, be sure to stop by our MLS page also.

Nuts and Bolts — a basic overview of what your team dealt with last year and is facing this year.

Here, in a nutshell, is the Galaxy ‘07 Season. (Subtitle: How NOT to run a team:)

Start with a Beckham DP signing.

Add in panicky preparations for Beckham.

Toss in some desperate trades and frantic signings to get ready for Beckham.

Throw in an insane post-Beckham schedule.

Sell hundreds of thousands of Beckham kits and Beckham-pack tickets around the league

Add Beckham.

Subtract Beckham — ankle injury.

Add angry fans of other teams who got fleeced to see Beckham not play.

Add Beckham, even though he’s not fit.

Subtract Beckham again — knee injury.

Add a bunch of gutsy rookies who play their hearts out for minimum wage.

Final result: A team that almost made the playoffs. Without Beckham. They fell short in the very last game of regular season.

This year we’re hoping for something better.

The star: Who is your team built around?

Um… Three guesses. For those who have been living under a rock, starts with a “B” and ends with an “eckham.”

Actually, this year we have a triumvirate of highly-paid superstars who need to be sure they’re worth the bucks. David Beckham heads the list, of course. (And we have him for an entire year this time around. If he stays healthy, that will definitely help.) On top of that, we still have Landon Donovan. And now we’ve brought in striker Carlos Ruiz, who’s best known for actually knocking the balls into the net. (Something the team was sadly missing all last year.)

All three of these players are at DP-level salaries. MLS allowed this because both Donovan and Ruiz made DP-level salaries before there was such a thing. During the off-season, the gods of MLS ruled that these high salaries could be grandfathered in, and the players would not count as DPs.

Between the three of them, they eat up $1,050,000 of the $2.3 million salary cap. This puts a whole bunch of pressure on them to actually produce, because they’re going to be surrounded by players who don’t make a whole lot of money.

DP or not? And how will that affect the team?

We have DPs coming out of our ears. As described above, we not only have Beckham, we have Donovan and Ruiz. What this means is that nearly half of the salary cap is taken up by three players.

In the last few weeks or so before the team had to be in cap compliance, we had to trade or waive several solid players who could have made a difference this year. We just couldn’t afford them.

Now we’re fighting to figure out a way to make it work with the Big Three, a few (very few) solid veterans, and a whole bunch of rookies and newcomers.

The newcomers: Who is going to come in and make a difference?

Everybody is counting on Carlos Ruiz, the former Galaxy superstriker who was traded to Dallas in 2005 to allow the Galaxy to acquire Landon Donovan. Carlos had a huge drop-off in form last year, scoring only seven goals after delivering more than twenty in previous seasons, so Dallas was happy to let him come back. Galaxy fans are hoping that it was just homesickness, and everything will be better now that he’s back in LA.

Another Ruiz skill to watch is his uncanny ability to draw fouls. That, combined with Beckham’s trademark free kicks, could make for an interesting season. If we’re not hated now, wait till Beckham scores due to Ruiz melodrama.

(I was not a Ruiz fan coming into this season, to put it mildly. I’m kind of becoming okay with some of the melodrama, though, provided it comes only after legit fouls. But I swear to God, if he goes down even once holding his face when the contact was below the knee, I will personally storm onto the field myself and deliver the punishment blow, Rico Clark-style. Carlos, you have been warned.)

And we can’t talk about newcomers without talking about the new coach, Mr. Sexy Football himself, Ruud Gullit. We lost coach Frank Yallop last year amid rumors of strife between Frank and GM Alexi Lalas. Alexi won. This year there are similar rumors of strife between Ruud and Alexi. Will they work it out? And if not, who comes out on top? This will be one of the most interesting stories of the year, and you can bet your Beckham Armanis that the Galaxy will do its best to keep it from going public. At least till things blow up irreparably. But rumors have a way of leaking out. So grab your popcorn, because this should be interesting.

The Galaxy will also be heavily dependent on newer, younger players this year because that’s pretty much all we have left. In particular, watch for Ely Allen, Sean Franklin, Alvaro Pires and Julian Valentin to step in and make a difference. And Brandon McDonald, Michael Gavin, Charles Alamo, and (if signed) Bryan Jordan and Josh Wicks could be interesting as well.

Keep an eye on: Who else should we watch this season?

Our central defense both fascinates and terrifies me this year. Last year’s rookie standout, Ty Harden, retired unexpectedly in the preseason. This led to what looked like a panic trade, where we gave up Generation Adidas player Quavas Kirk to get veteran Greg Vanney. (This made even less sense when you realize that Generation Adidas players don’t count against the cap, and Greg got a big salary last year.) When you pair Greg with the ever-colorful Portuguese player Abel Xavier, you get a whole bunch of leadership and experience and positioning, and very little ability to keep up with speedy attackers. And yet it could work. I’m cautiously optimistic. Hope springs eternal.

Also keep an eye on Chris Klein, one of my favorite players. He was one of last year’s panic trades — we gave up up-and-comers Nate Sturgis and Robbie Findley to get him. At the time it didn’t seem to make sense, but this year he appears to be making the rightback position his own, and his crosses are second only to Beckham’s. Watch for Klein and Beckham to rip up the right side of the field.

And don’t forget last year’s younger players like Josh Tudela, Mike Randolph and Troy Roberts, who were part of the rookie contingent who almost got us to the playoffs. Or our new starting goalkeeper Steve Cronin, who played all of something like four games last year but is now making the position his own. And we’re crossing our fingers and hoping that this is the year that forwards like Alan Gordon and Edson Buddle find the back of the net on a regular basis. And look to longtime veteran Pete Vagenas to provide a little desperately-needed stability.

We’ll win the league if…?

Our superstars can stay healthy, our veterans can lead, and our rookies and younger players can take advantage of the opportunity they’ve been given.

We’ll be in trouble if…?

Beckham, Ruiz or Landon, (or any of our older vets) spend a lot of time injured. Or our younger players don’t have the experience to hold up the parts of the field not anchored by the stars and vets. (Our entire left side is a big question mark right now.)

You might not know… Three or so facts that a non-fan might not be aware of:

1. Of the 26 players who were with the team last May, only nine are still on the roster.

2. The Galaxy’s stated goal is to make $100,000,000 in revenues with Beckham. (I think we all knew this. But I was a little surprised to see them admit it.)

3. Just because we’re female fans doesn’t mean that we have Beckham crushes. I think I speak for a lot of women when I say that I love Beckham only for his free kicks and throughballs and ability to put us in the playoffs. So enough with the jokes already.

Go, Galaxy!