The LA Galaxy just completed one of the best seasons in MLS history, if not the best, and they may be even better in 2012 after enjoying an outstanding off-season that has many scratching their heads at just how they've been able to do it.
If you have been wondering just how the Galaxy have constructed what looks like an unstoppable MLS roster, read my Fox Soccer column detailing just how the Galaxy have done it. It will offer you plenty of details into the real breakdown, and no, it's not based on conspiracy theories or preferential MLS treatment.
Give the column a read and feel free to share your thoughts on the piece, and on the Galaxy squad, in the comments section below.
Seattle is cheap
Maybe, but they are only a DP away from having a roster like LA’s…Look at NY 5 years ago and look at the team now.
Let’s not forget the loan money that LA gets for guys like Keane, Donovan, Beckham, etc. It’s about time they started to spend it.
It’s more like 3/4…
Unbalancing the league? All they did was bring back Buddle (a former player) and add Sarvas.
They lost the best keeper in the league and the Defensive Player of the Year for the season.
Yes, they were already good, but other teams have upgraded even more.
If Ives says Klinsman is going to pick his starting 11 based on current form, how does Kljestan not make it? Dude’s way more in-form than any of the other central midfielders.
Any MLS supporter should be hoping the Galaxy can beef up their roster and at least duplicate RSL’s fine performance in CCL last year, and maybe even take the hardware. MLS is now just a win away from the club world cup. That’s a lot of international exposure. Better the Galaxy getting crushed by Barça in than a team from the middle east. What’s good for the goose, as they say…
Arena really didn’t start to “get it” until he dumped all of those old, pricey, washed-up vets like Eddie Lewis and Greg Vanney.
Kljestan. Couldn’t help myself.
I was thinking that too. Perhaps Klesjian (I’m almost certain that I spelled his name wrong, but I’m too lazy to look it up) will be involved.
I definitely agree.. I am a Galaxy supporter, but cringe when folks think anything is sure. I haven’t seen too many making guarantees though. Any soccer fan knows that nothing is assured. It is a fickle game, a long season and the West is stacked. There are 4 or 5 teams that could take it. All that said- There is a difference between a 2x SS winner and current MLS Cup holder making some nice moves and actually seeming to improve their team garnering hype and NYRB who had not won anything punching their ticket to the finals after picking up a few players. There is some precedence… some of this has been earned on the field the last 3 years. Something not mentioned often either is the fact that Keane is essentially a new player to this team having only played 2 of 3 games at the end of last year. A full season w/ Becks and LD and the new additions (Buddle vs Barret) could see him doing some damage. We’ll see… it’s why they play the games. Going to be fun.
Aged talent. What does this mean? I continually see this sort of thing parroted, but there seems to be a bit of a double standard. Top leagues are littered with players much older than LA has. Is Keane “aged talent” and if so… ought the EPL be criticized for bringing him in and his play there mean less? Or taking aged MLS talent like Donovan in on loan? Does Beckham’s indisputable contribution to a championship mean less because of his age? Has not LA balanced out their aged stars w/ young up and comers Juninho, Leonardo, Noonan, Nakazawa? And their youth system is beginning to produce as well. Seems to me finding a balance between young talent and older, experienced, accomplished players is a pretty good model. Straight up… I’d like to see every team in MLS put the most talent on the field that they possibly can.
Let’s see what happens March 7 and 14 before we start stroking off the Galaxy, shall we? Reeks of all the F’n hype that this site now regularly spews. DeRo to NYRB sewing up the title April 1, 2011 anybody?
One thing that’s missed in all of the discussion above is the idea that MLS needs to continue to find ways to make the regular season meaningful. With the playoff format and/or the corresponding “MLS Cup Champion,” there is a tendency to discount the winner of the SS as the league’s best team. Awarding allocation money to the SS winner creates an incentive for all teams within striking distance to keep playing instead of resting up for the playoffs (like we see in all of the other sports).
I also don’t think giving ONE team allocation money for winning the league creates a have vs. have not scenario. My two cents.
If only LA has a chance to win every other team will be recruiting foreign players on a pure cash nexus. Come here and we will pay you well [to lose to LA]. Considering x number of foreigners can actually play for LA, and people might want to play for NY or other teams, and have an equal chance to win, I think it will hinder recruitment over time.
The incentives are also contradictory. We give Vancouver an allocation to catch up and then LA-type teams an allocation to run back off again? How’s that close the gap?
Dare I point out that LA has won the SS two years running? And that at the time MLS gave it for 2011 they’d have known who the SS was?
Of course, the argument will be that anyone else can win the SS, but then the field has already been slanted by the DP rules, which allow teams to exempt whole chunks of expensive players from their cap. Just like the French saying about the law forbidding rich and poor to sleep beneath bridges, the rules allow everyone to have DPs, and now to have 3 of them. So LA and I believe NY have 3, some other teams have 1-3, and some teams have none. Recalling all this started to allow LA to acquire Beckham and keep Donovan, some might feel, hmm, a tad conspiratorial.
And your CCL argument merely reflects the mentality that used to allow DC to accumulate talent…under Bruce Arena, who now coaches LA. They then went out and did well internationally. Which is all well and good except to do so you’re allowing them to bend the domestic rules and un-level the domestic playing field. We have a cap number that applies to everyone EXCEPT THE CHAMPION? How’s that fair? If they did that for the Giants people would be down at NFL HQ tomorrow.
I wish MLS was more competitive in CCL but I think we do well for our cap number competing against better funded FMF teams. And bolstering one team for CCL is not a good justification for un-balancing the league itself. Doesn’t every other team have a right to win the league and represent in CCL? This is a dynasty-maker.
MLS goes in cycles, people will get sick of it and we’ll go back to the even handed version again soon enough. They dismantled DC, which led to an era of more parity.
Those two are only one year older than last year, when they did just fine.
The guys, who retired, were not the key guys. None of them was as important as Beckham or Donovan are. I am not saying that LA Galaxy is not one of the favorites to win, if not the favorite, but ask yourself who are the top players for LA and how old they are. Other than Juninho (and seriously injured Gonzo) they will be over 30 during the next season. Don’t you think that 37 year old Beckham will be a step slower on defense? His crossing ability, long range passing and free kicks will be an asset, but his defensive range will continue to deteriorate.
Retirement league schmetirement fleague. It’s not like the galaxy are playing bingo at halftime.
Bringing in aged talent isn’t unique to MLS. Aged talent can be a useful, (comparatively) cheap, short term strategy.
I don’t see Torres making the trip, much less starting — but, otherwise, it’s highly plausible.
Have you seen Everton play this year?
Are you saying they’re not one of the teams that “have to pack it in, play like thugs and kick long balls so they don’t get destroyed.” Or, are they just doing a bad job of it?
I see. So, what’s your idea – the one that would allow more cap room to be competitive in Champions League, without making the playing field in MLS uneven?
I like how easily you dismiss beckham and keane as ‘old guys.’
Like they’re the equivalent of the overweight 45 year olds playing against college kids. No blanco jokes please.
They brought in Keane at 30 and Beckham at 31. Hardly “aging.” Even so, they brought in Juninho at 21 and Leonardo at 22.
No. That is a change that was announced one year ago, almost to the day. Allocations have been doled out in an equalizing manner — but, the league reasoned that the best teams were having to choose between winning in CCL or in MLS play, leading to underwhelming results in CCL play. The changes were intended to incentivize success in both CCL and MLS regular season. So, if you win the SS, you get a bonus that might help you afford thee depth needed to also field a good side in CCL…and if you do well in CCL, you can afford to go out and add depth for MLS play.
In the article Ives projects the following line-up against Italy: Tim Howard, Tim Chandler, Carlos Bocanegra, Oguchi Onyewu, Steve Cherundolo, Fabian Johnson, Michael Bradley, Jose Torres, Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore
If thats the line-up I would be thrilled and I give us a decent change. I’m tired of seeing low skilled players like Kyle Beckerwoman, Curly Edu and Broke Shea.
LA is a paper great team. Don’t forget about the way the schedule changed for 2012. The best teams (west) are set to play each other way more than they play the worst teams (east). LA, Seattle, RSL and FCD are set to tear one another apart; don’t forget Colorado, San Jose and Portland have each added strength to their squad.
LA fans can enjoy the hype bow, the rest of us will enjoys their tears at the end of the season when it doesn’t all work out.
want to make a bet? seeing as that the MLS cup final is now in December, they will still be holding that cup!
I just saw Ives article. And I certainly doubt that he saw mine. Just a case of two people looking at the situation and finding a logical way to describe what happened.
I particularly like Ives information on actual salary and Allocation numbers. One quick note of correction, the 2012 salary cap is 2.8 million and each senior DP will count at $350K against the salary cap. The Sounders’ GM clarified that point in an interview he did with Sounder@Heart a while back.
Abbott Smith
Probably start a firestorm noone wants to read, but Everton’s goal diff is 47 worse than Man City’s. I assume they are NOT in your 1/4.
While no one can dispute that the Galaxy have an intimidating team on paper, I wonder if they will be able to live up to all this hype. Sort of like New York “best team on paper” Red Bulls last year. The MLS version of the Madden curse?
Their roster probably got younger, considering a handful of guys in their mid-30s retired.
I wish MLS had been less concerned about parity when DCU was good.
problem is everyteam does this, except RSL the best run team in the league
I think LA can and will be beaten. They look good on paper, lets see how their season progresses in terms of performance and injuries. I’m willing to bet they’re not the ones holding up the MLS Cup come November.
They prefer a coach who doesn’t know which year the Gold Cup is held.
I don’t disagree that LA is a well run team that will be great. But I think they deserve their share of criticism as well.
Bringing in aged talent because of your owners large packets is far from the style the MLS should adopt. It also does nothing to dispel the perception that the MLS is a retirement league.
LA’s roster is the deepest it has ever been, which is good since the team is involved in so many competitions. Barring serious injuries, the second stringers should do fine. Besides, we’ve got Cristman. BOOM. Give him the trophy now.
You’re clearly in the pro-parity group, which Ives touched on in his article. That’s cool, but I don’t see how the league’s reputation (and as a result, its ability to draw talented, young players) will improve if MLS continues the parity model ad infinitum. A mixed system of rewarding the winning teams while propping up the cellar dwellers will help MLS in the long term and bear the most fruit.
Well the bottom teams are given allocation and a high draft pick. MLS giving the SS winning teams allocation makes the bottom teams have to raise there level of play. And stop with this dynasty stuff the Galaxy will have to completely re work the team next year and if they are still near the top it has less to do with money and more to do with being a well run team
I am ok with allowing more $ to be competitive in Champions League. But not to make MLS playing field uneven.
Who wants Premier league where 1/4 of the teams have to pack it in, play like thugs and kick long balls so they don’t get destroyed.
As an RSL fan I still think it was excellent. It really doesn’t seem unreasonable that this team could be built with current rules. MLS rules are complex yes, but they’re the rules ALL TEAMS play with.
I kind of see what you’re sayign with Angel, but I see a plausible scenario: Angel was a DP, and as they only had had him half a year (and Keane the other half) they could pay out the rest of his salary in that year, and get him off the books for this year.
And I completely agree on the Allocation for winning. I saw a couple posts above I thought were silly. Rewarding winners is a GOOD idea, not bad one.
Two things-
1) don’t forget about Juan Pablo Angel-the Galaxy I believe are still paying a large portion of his salary-the fact that they can spend money that doesn’t count against the cap to ‘undo’ a mistake functionally means that they can evade opportunity cost by spending money. Some percentage of what they’re paying him for Chivas should count towards their salary cap, if you screw up, tough, you gotta pay for it.
2) As a big proponent of parity, I’m ok with teams like the Galaxy getting allocation $, etc. for doing well-MLS is by far the easiest league in the world to change one’s competitive situation assuming no drastic changes in economic backing through a variety of avenues(much easier than any other American league with near-infinite international market, easier than Europe with built in parity mechanisms, etc.) If it helps them in the CCL, its ok.
ok, so did Ives plagarize from SounderAtHeart? or the other way around??
http://www.sounderatheart.com/2012/2/8/2784601/voodoo-economics-a-look-at-how-the-la-galaxy-manage-the-salary-cap
IF MLS thinks they are going to hit the jackpot by having the top teams get very good and the bottom teams just slightly improve, they don’t have a brain.
Everyone, including me, is looking at this team as incredible, but….
One, there were those that thought Salt Lake would run away with it last year. MLS is tougher than that, especially the West.
Two, this team is down one of their best players, while retaining a great forward, who will be a back up, and retaining two old guys, one of which only performed in a contract year.
Three, they were never deep, now Noonan might make the team ?
Excellent article! The only thing that I wish it considered is the age factor. Many of LA’s key players will be on the wrong side of 30: Beckham (37!), Keane, Buddle and now even Donovan. With the grind of multiple competitions, age and injuries could become a factor.
Excellent article Ives. I say this as an LA Galaxy fan of course.
Had MLS traditionally handed out allocations for winning SS and being in CCL? I understand the smart money management and think Arena deserves praise for that, but what popped out at me was $300K allocations for just being good. I always thought allocations were to be an equalizing force. Depending whether this is something MLS has done lately, it may be a questionable policy in a cap league, and it is arguably a rich get richer means of legally papering over the sort of championing and favoritism that used to make DC a dynasty, one way or the other.
Also, if team x literally trades you cash (as opposed to allocation) that should go to the accounting bottom line and not salary cap. LA should get Ricketts’ cap space and then have free money to fill the hole per the accounting department, but shoudn’t be rewarded on the cap for being traded cash.
MLS is going goofy on the recent decisions, including letting the Timbers select a “lottery player” without holding them to lottery rules. If one team wants a draftable player that still sounds like a draft to me.
Because they’re clueless.
Why did Red Bull give up on Bruce Arena after such a short stint?