Soccer <\/p>\n
After a decade in the wilderness, they are back hovering above it all. LA Galaxy<\/a> are your MLS Cup 2024 presented by Audi champions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Let\u2019s talk about how they got there:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The Galaxy had\u2026 let\u2019s call it $20 million to spend last winter and two DP slots to fill. And here\u2019s a thing we should all know by now, about this version of MLS: If you don\u2019t get your DP signings 90% correct \u2013 it doesn\u2019t have to be 100% correct, but it\u2019s got to be close \u2013 you\u2019re not going to win a trophy.<\/p>\n Think about the teams that have won the Supporters\u2019 Shield and MLS Cup the past few years. Think about the US Open Cup<\/a> winners, or the Leagues Cup<\/a> winners, or the teams that make a run in Concacaf Champions Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n There’s not much dead weight at the top of the roster! And so when general manager Will Kuntz went to work last winter, adding to a team that was clearly going to be built around Riqui Puig<\/a>\u2019s all-world passing ability in midfield, he knew he needed to go 2-for-2 on DP wingers whose skillsets would resonate with and amplify Riqui\u2019s (and vice versa).<\/p>\n In Joseph Paintsil<\/a>, he got a Best XI-caliber winger. In Gabriel Pec<\/a>, he got the Newcomer of the Year<\/a> who scored one of the greatest individual goals in Audi MLS Cup Playoffs history:<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Dribbling through ’em like cones ???? pic.twitter.com\/gGrEJGtJmJ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) November 25, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n If your three DPs are each 95th percentile (or better) at their position, you\u2019re going to win a lot of games.<\/p>\n First time in a long time that\u2019s been the case for the Galaxy.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Talent wins. Give a good manager (Greg Vanney is definitely one!) great talent up and down the roster and you won\u2019t just win a lot of games; you\u2019ll get silverware.<\/p>\n Understand it\u2019s not just guys like Pec and Paintsil, but clever intra-league signings like Edwin Cerrillo<\/a>, Diego Fag\u00fandez<\/a>, John Nelson<\/a>, and John McCarthy<\/a> who were all brought in either during the summer of 2023 or the following winter \u2013 the window ahead of this season. They signed veteran center back Maya Yoshida<\/a> for free in the middle of last year and then added countryman Miki Yamane<\/a>, who was widely regarded as the best fullback in the J-League, ahead of this year.<\/p>\n By this summer, the cap had been managed so well that they signed Borussia Dortmund legend Marco Reus<\/a> on a VERY<\/em> manageable salary.<\/p>\n That wasn\u2019t the big one, though. The big one was adding unheralded Colombian center back Emiro Garc\u00e9s<\/a> on loan. Garces has flaws (he\u2019s not good in the air attacking crosses; that almost led to an improbable RBNY<\/a> equalizer in the 33rd minute), but he\u2019s a perfect partner for Yoshida in the middle of that backline. It\u2019s no surprise LA looked like a top-five defense down the stretch once he claimed a starting spot.<\/p>\n The common denominator for all of this is Kuntz. He joined the Galaxy from LAFC<\/a> in April 2023 and has been throwing straight smoke for three straight transfer windows. He got the big-name signings right. He got the veteran signings right. He saw, in players like Cerrillo, Nelson and Garc\u00e9s, championship building blocks. Anybody could\u2019ve gotten these guys; the Galaxy did.<\/p>\n It\u2019s eerily similar to what LAFC did ahead of their 2022 season. Remember, they had some big-name DPs on that team. But it was the offseason rebuild with guys like Ryan Hollingshead<\/a>, Ilie S\u00e1nchez<\/a>, Kellyn Acosta<\/a>, Maxime Cr\u00e9peau<\/a> and, yes, John McCarthy, that drove that team\u2019s MLS Cup\/Supporters\u2019 Shield double.<\/p>\n Anybody could\u2019ve had those guys. LAFC got them and trophies followed suit. Kuntz had a big hand in that, too.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Riqui is gonna play the way Riqui plays no matter what. Know how we know that? Because he\u2019s in LA instead of Barcelona.<\/p>\n I honestly think this guy is the second-best passer of the ball in the entire world, behind only the other No. 10 with Barca roots<\/a> in MLS. The issue is Riqui has zero interest in structure, positional play or\u2026 balance. If he did, he\u2019d be starting next to Pedri every week in LaLiga.<\/p>\n So it was incumbent upon Vanney to figure out how to build a structure around the little genius. It did not come easy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s not exactly how I saw the position on paper,\u201d Vanney said two weeks back on the way Riqui plays.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we’ve learned with Riqui is how to give him the right spaces to allow him to move around because he’s unplayable when he’s on the move. And it’s so hard if you try to mark him and chase him around because he is so mobile and he’s so quick, and so a lot for us is how to not put him in the box, but for other guys who are playing with Riqui, to understand how to best be effective and to allow his movements to take place and to work off of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n Across MLS regular-season and postseason play, here are the numbers:<\/p>\n Safe to say they got the attacking balance right! And then once Garc\u00e9s was added to the group, they got the defensive balance right (his ability to snuff out opponents in transition after bad Galaxy turnovers is irreplaceable). And then when Riqui got hurt and Vanney had to adjust for MLS Cup, he made the bold call of going with Gast\u00f3n Brugman<\/a> instead of Fag\u00fandez.<\/p>\n Brugman went out and won MLS Cup MVP presented by Audi<\/a>. The coach got that call right, too.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n LA’s postseason attack? Historic. ???? pic.twitter.com\/FXBfHdNVvg<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Major League Soccer (@MLS) December 9, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n Mark Delgado<\/a> has a contract option; it is an easy call to pick that up. Mart\u00edn C\u00e1ceres<\/a> has a contract option; it is an easy call to decline that.<\/p>\n Yoshida is out of contract. He turns 37 next summer, but I assume they\u2019ll work to bring him back.<\/p>\n\n
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