There are certain teams in each of the major North American sports that seem to define their league and be the epitome of success on and off the field. For better or worse, the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Dallas Cowboys, and going back some years the Montreal Canadiens all defined their respective sport. Major League Soccer had one of those teams too – the Los Angeles Galaxy. However, you may have to look into a different soccer galaxy just to find this storied franchise as they’ve fallen almost into sports oblivion.
The Los Angeles Galaxy represented the growth of MLS in North America.
When you hark back to the original days of the MLS in the 1990s, no other franchise meant more to the growth of this new soccer league than the Los Angeles Galaxy. With key players who helped make the game an American one such as Landon Donovan and Cobi Jones, the Galaxy was the early success story for the MLS. With a built-in fan base in southern California and a Home Depot Center built specifically for watching soccer matches, the Galaxy represented all of the best and brightest shining stars that the early MLS could hope for.
I personally went to a few matches at the Home Depot Center and it truly was built with the soccer fan and player in mind. As we like to say, those were the good old days of Galaxy soccer. Even when Chivas USA muscled their way into the southern California soccer market and shared the Home Depot Center with the Galaxy, Los Galacticos remained the most popular MLS team in town.
The 2023 season hasn’t been kind to the Galaxy.
Time and irrelevancy have relegated the Los Angeles Galaxy to a back-burner status in Major League Soccer. Gone are the days of Landon Donovan, Cobi Jones, David Beckham, or Robbie Keane who symbolized the style and substance of this franchise.
Enter the 2023 season. The Galaxy sit winless in seven matches with an 0-3-3 record which amazingly isn’t the worst in the MLS but close. As the El Trafico rivalry week heats up against cross-town rivals LAFC (who came subsequently after Chivas USA folded), the Galaxy are reeling after a 3-0 blowout at the hands of the Houston Dynamo. Yes, occasional goal-leaking defeats happen but this latest loss rocked the core of the entire Galaxy franchise.
How far has the Los Angeles Galaxy really fallen? When two red cards are issued in a single match and neither foul had anything to do with play on the pitch (Martin Caceres received his fora video review violation and bumping a referee and Douglas Costa received his for grabbing and throwing an opponent to the ground) you know your entire organization is in trouble.
The Galaxy numbers this season show a team in disarray.
I will concede that the Galaxy isn’t the absolute worst team in Major League Soccer right now. However, they sit winless in seven matches and have a total of 60 shots with 29 shots on goal and exactly three goals this season. For you analytics fans, that represents a 5% conversion rate.
A goal-scoring percentage like that means that this squad will likely have a very long season and may not see a win for quite some time. Even more incredible is the fact that the Galaxy have only given up nine goals in seven matches as well which means they’re both stingy with scoring and conceding goals this season. Regardless of goals or goals conceded, the Los Angeles Galaxy needs to concern themselves with one simple issue – winning soccer matches quickly.