A historically-poor start. A lengthy list of season-ending injuries. Fan protests in the early goings. Lingering transfer sanctions through the summer.
The LA Galaxy encountered plenty of adversity in 2023.
Then the club’s luck ran out in Matchday 37, when a 5-2 loss at Minnesota United FC guaranteed they mathematically can’t make the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs. With their backs against the wall, LA allowed 20 goals in their last six games as defensive frailties appeared.
“We’ve been chasing this season from day one in some ways … and today, we got a little bit put out of our misery maybe in that perspective,” said head coach and sporting director Greg Vanney. “But this group I know will fight the last two home games to try to give our fans something at least down the stretch to appreciate.”
LA close out the regular season against Real Salt Lake (Oct. 14) and FC Dallas (Oct. 21) before officially turning focus to the offseason and plotting a path forward. They’re left playing spoiler, instead of joining the 18-team postseason party and trying to add a record sixth MLS Cup to their trophy cabinet.
Vanney, speaking postgame Saturday night at Allianz Field, didn’t want to overly focus on the big picture just yet.
“This season felt like five seasons worth of challenges inside of one season, and we couldn’t manage all of it and get ourselves to the playoffs and the final stages,” said Vanney. “I don’t know any other way to put it right now.”
The injuries certainly took their toll. Star striker Chicharito, box-to-box midfielder Gastón Brugman, right back Calegari and center back Martín Cáceres have missed significant time with knee injuries. Homegrown center back Jalen Neal underwent sports hernia surgery, and star midfielder Riqui Puig has battled a late-season ankle injury.
For any MLS team, that sheer quantity takes a toll – even if those like striker Billy Sharp, defender Maya Yoshida and more joined midseason to help patch the holes.
“This group has fought every single game,” said Vanney. “Not always clearly, not always to the perfect result or to the perfect performance, but they battled. And tonight this one got away from us. We battled a lot of games. We’ve kept them tight. We’ve been in there fighting. And the guys who have joined us have helped give us a lift, and the guys who have been grinding all year continue to grind.”
LA also opened the season by going 2W-9L-3D. That hole was consequential, according to goalkeeper Jonathan Bond.
“We’ve been playing catch-up for the last two-thirds of the season, basically off the back of a not-great start,” said Bond. “… Whatever happened in that first 10 games, it set us back a lot. We were aware that since May or so, we’ve been probably in the top two, three teams in terms of points per game. We weren’t winning every game, but we were in good form, we weren’t losing many. Probably drawing too many along the way, in order for us to catch up. But, if you want to talk about the season as a whole, the first 10 games were very difficult.”
Now, all that’s left for the Galaxy in 2023 is pride and trying to reward their fans. It doesn’t make the sting any easier.
“Just devastating not to make it to the playoffs,” said winger Tyler Boyd. “Not good enough, really. But we’ve had a lot of injuries. A lot of players out. So, it’s just been unlucky on that aspect, as far as having a lot of our main guys out. Just devastated, to be honest.”
