To really understand how far The galaxy came to reach the MLS Cup final On Saturday, you must first know where they started.
The Galaxy went last season after losing more games than they had won since 2017. They had made the playoffs twice in six seasons and had a team record nine years without playing in the league championship match.
Once the model franchise MLSThe galaxy had become a dysfunctional mess. And it did not seem that things would have improved so soon.
Thus, when the Galaxy announced that Chris Klein, who presided over this free fall as president of the team for a decade, had received a contract extension, Andrew Alesana had seen enough. The team already had his money – he had recently renewed the season ticket he had since 2007 – but he would no longer have his support.
So, just before the start of the 2023 season, Alesana, president of the Riot Squad, joined three of the other main groups of the team to Boycottpromising to stay away from games until changes in the front office.
And guess what? It worked.
Will KuntzWho would become the architect of the reversal of the team, was hired three months later, Klein was dismissed a month later and after rebuilding the front office, the galaxy quickly rebuilt their list. The result was one of the most dramatic reversals in the history of MLS.
After winning only eight games in 2023, the Galaxy equaled a record of modern times with 19 victories this season. After finishing in the penultimate point of the Conference of West standing last season, the Galaxy equaled to first place this season, becoming the first team since 2011 to go from the second to the duration of the MLS Cup in one season.
And it all started when the fans went on strike.
“It's crazy where we come from in a year,” said Alesana. “I am definitely proud of the team's success.”
The same goes for Mark Villa, a season's holder since the first game in Carson in 2004.
“My children grew up in this stadium,” he said. “The last eight seasons have been difficult to cross as a fan. But seeing this renewal is really starting to compensate.”
Villa said that supporting the boycott was a difficult but necessary decision – and which forced AEG, the parent company of the Galaxy, to listen to.
“They already had our money. That's all that concerns them, “he said. “The media exam provided by the boycott reached a point where (AEG) could no longer hide.”
They could not ignore the planes circulating in the stadium calling for the dismissal of Klein and the technical director Jovan Kirovski. Or the empty seats and the hoots that broke after the matches. Seventeen months later, some AEG officials admit that the boycott influenced their thoughts and may have accelerated changes that were already envisaged.
In other words, fans have been heard.
“The galaxy has become mediocre and the fans were fed up. They demanded that there are change,” said the commentator of the ESPN, Hécuclez Gómez, who won an MLS cup with the galaxy in 2005. “If this pressure did not exist, Aeg would have just continued and the galaxy would not be in the position it is today.
“I don't think the change happens if these fans do not take matters into their own hands.”
An immediate result of these changes was that Dignity Health Sports Park has become a fortress again. Only two MLS teams won fewer home games than the Galaxy last season; This year, the galaxy was undefeated in 20 games in all competitions. Ten of these matches were closed, helping the Galaxy to beat the frequentation record for a single franchise season.
If AEG has not learned anything else, they have learned that if they build a winner, the fans will come – or in some cases, will come back.
“It really means a lot for players,” said winger Joseph Paintsil. “The crowd, people cry, making noise. It gives us the energy to push for them because they came for us. ”
“Of course, you notice it,” added Gómez. “And you know, who else notes?
Other ownership groups should also notice it. Because if a boycott can work in southern California, he can operate in San José, where earthquakes have not had a winning season for 11 years. Or Washington, where DC United has not won an eliminatory match since 2015. Or Chicago, where the fire has made the playoffs twice since its last playoff victory in 2009.
“I really think fans of other teams should consider this as an example,” said Alesana. “If people stopped showing for games, they can affect their property.”
As a former galaxy player, Gómez has a different socket. For him, the turnaround this season in Carson was personal. And it is happy that fans see it in the same way.
“When you cross the galaxy, it is once a G, always a G,” he said. “There are clubs that you are going through in your career, there are fans that you meet, which always seem to remember, seem to hang on the past. There is something to say about it.”
“It's special because few places in the world have this,” he added. “Not so long ago, the Galaxy was the only team you talked about when you talked about a great club. It has lost this, and now they find that, and people love it.”
Especially the people who boycotted the team to get there.
⚽ You have read the last episode of soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and highlights unique stories. Listen to Baxter in the episode of this week of “Podcast Corner of the Galaxy.
