Los Angeles Galaxy (Soccer Team)

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    L.A. Galaxy Fire Chris Klein, a Target of Fans’ Anger

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    Last in the standings and facing a boycott from fans, the Los Angeles Galaxy ousted Chris Klein.When the world’s most famous soccer player, David Beckham, came to Major League Soccer in 2007, his arrival put the league on the map and affirmed the Los Angeles Galaxy’s status as the young league’s superteam. During his tenure, the Galaxy played in three M.L.S. Cups, won two of them and exuded a Hollywood glamour that resonated around the world.So it is startling to see that the Galaxy has the worst record in the league this season, with only two wins from 14 games. In response, and after missing the playoffs in four of the past five seasons, the team on Tuesday fired its longtime president, Chris Klein, who had also played with Beckham at the Galaxy.Klein’s dismissal came after months of clamor from hard-core fans upset at the club’s direction. Several supporters groups had called for Klein’s dismissal and threatened to boycott games; some already have done so. The Galaxy’s attendance is down about 10 percent from last season, a reflection of both the team’s cratering on-field results and simmering anger among its fans.“I hope that there’s a resolution, and the supporters’ groups — who are really important to all of us, and to the players — find the right way, whatever the resolution is for them to show up,” Galaxy Coach Greg Vanney told ESPN in February. “Because it’s probably not going to be ‘Chris out.’”Now Chris is out. “We believe it is in the best interest of the club to make a change and begin a comprehensive process to seek new leadership that will return the club to the level that our fans and partners expect,” Dan Beckerman, the president of A.E.G., the team’s parent company, said in announcing Klein’s departure. Vanney will remain in his job as coach, the team said.The Galaxy’s last M.L.S. championship came in 2014, its third in four years, but it has not won anything significant since then. Last year’s playoff appearance, its first in three seasons, ended in the conference semifinals.The team that knocked out the Galaxy at that stage particularly rankles: It was Los Angeles F.C., the new club in town, which has only been a member of the league since 2018 but already has more honors in its trophy case (three) than the Galaxy have in the past decade.L.A.F.C. has twice won the Supporters Shield, awarded to the team with the best regular-season record, and last season it won its first M.L.S. Cup championship. It also has advanced to the final of this year’s Concacaf Champions League, where it will meet Club León of Mexico in a home-and-home series this week for the regional club championship.The Galaxy, meanwhile, are staggering. The team is a league-worst 2-9-3 with a minus-14 goal difference this season. Going into Wednesday night, the Galaxy have lost three straight league games without scoring a goal. After the last of those defeats, by 1-0 at home to Charlotte on Saturday, fans chanted, “We want better!”While L.A.F.C.’s Dénis Bouanga leads M.L.S. with 10 goals, the Galaxy’s scoring leader, Dejan Joveljic, has two. Among the underachieving big-name Galaxy players are the Mexico striker Javier Hernández, known as Chicharito, and Douglas Costa of Brazil, who scoreless in four appearance Costa also faces arrest in Brazil on charges of nonpayment of child support, it was revealed this week.In the aftermath of Klein’s firing, supporters groups congratulated each other on the news and vowed to return to games.Klein had his own problems late last year: He was suspended in the off-season after M.L.S. found violations in a deal to sign the Argentine wing Cristian Pavón. The sanctions also limit the moves the Galaxy can make in the international transfer market this summer. That means rebuilding the Galaxy will be a tall order. Even with their fans back on board, a return to glory may take a while. More

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      M.L.S. Preview: St. Louis S.C., Apple TV+ and More

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      St. Louis City S.C. will hit the field as the league’s 29th franchise, but to watch it, and every other team, fans will have to get to know Apple TV+.St. Louis, a city with a rich soccer history dating back more than a century, will finally get its Major League Soccer team this year. But to watch it, and the league’s other 28 teams, armchair supporters will have to make the transition from television to streaming, whether they like it or not.Here’s what is happening with M.L.S. in 2023.What’s new?For the seventh straight season, M.L.S. is expanding. St. Louis City S.C. will be the league’s 29th team — a total that may grow in the next few months — and play in a new stadium downtown, Citypark.St. Louis had long been a target for expansion; the city had a pioneering professional soccer league in the early 1900s and N.A.S.L., indoor and minor league teams more recently. But previous efforts all failed, torpedoed either by inadequate financing or, in 2017, a public referendum in which voters rejected a plan to finance a stadium for an expansion franchise.Even when St. Louis did finally get a team, its debut was put on hold for a year because of delays brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Now, though, the team that M.L.S. and St. Louis fans have long coveted is here.St. Louis City will christen its new stadium, Citypark, with its home opener against Charlotte on March 4.Jeff Roberson/Associated PressThe new team includes Roman Burki, a 32-year-old Swiss goalkeeper with seven years at Borussia Dortmund under his belt, and Klauss, a Brazilian striker. But if recent M.L.S. history is any indication (not you, Atlanta United), St. Louis City is likely to suffer typical expansion woes as it tries to build a winner.It may not be the lowest team on the M.L.S. totem pole for long, however: Commissioner Don Garber has made clear that the league’s expansion will not stop at 29. “We do need more teams,” Garber said this week in New York. A 30th franchise will be announced by the end of the year, he said, with San Diego and Las Vegas currently leading the contenders. Garber also cited Phoenix, Sacramento, Detroit and Tampa, Fla., as possibilities for further expansion in the near future.What will Week 1 bring?Thirteen games will be played on Saturday, starting with New York City F.C.’s visit to Nashville on Saturday afternoon. The big game comes later in the day: M.L.S. is expecting a crowd of more than 70,000 in the Rose Bowl on Saturday to watch the Los Angeles Galaxy, now playing second fiddle in the city they once ruled, take on the defending league champion, L.A.F.C.The Philadelphia Union, which lost last season’s M.L.S. Cup championship game in an excruciating manner, will kick off against Columbus at home. And Atlanta United, which led the league in attendance again last season, expects another big crowd inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium for its opener against San Jose.Cory Burke and the Red Bulls will be hoping their 28th season delivers the elusive title their first 27 did not.Matthew Ashton/AMA, via Getty ImagesNew York City F.C. is expecting a breakout year from its 20-year-old Brazilian striker Talles Magno.Matthew Ashton/AMA, via Getty ImagesHow can I watch?M.L.S. is banking on its younger fan base’s familiarity with technology (and its aversion to traditional TV) as it moves the bulk of its games to Apple TV+ as part of a 10-year, $2.5 billion broadcast contract.For hard-core M.L.S. fans, that will mean a deluge of content: every game, including the playoffs and the Leagues Cup tournament with the Mexican league; English and Spanish broadcasts; a Red Zone-style whip-around show hitting the highlights of games as they happen; and no blackouts for out-of-market games.The cost is $79 a year with an Apple TV+ subscription and $99 without, but several games each week will be broadcast free throughout the season.As for traditional television, ESPN is out of the mix, as are all local broadcasts around the country. Fox and FS1 will broadcast roughly one game a week, part of a conscious effort to keep one foot in the traditional broadcasting world as the league dives headlong into something new. “We didn’t want to go cold turkey and shut it all down,” said Gary Stevenson, the league’s deputy commissioner.Who is going to win the M.L.S. Cup?The list of favorites has to start with L.A.F.C., which won the Supporters’ Shield with the best regular-season record last season and then added the M.L.S. Cup title, becoming the first team to pull off that double since Toronto F.C. in 2017. The Welsh star Gareth Bale, whose tenure was known for limited minutes and stunning goals, has retired, and the team’s top scorer, Cristian Arango, has moved to the Mexican league, so expect more of the load to fall on the club legend Carlos Vela, now 33.Philadelphia had the same number of points as L.A.F.C. last season and a much better goal difference (plus-46 to plus-28), but it lost the Shield because it had fewer wins and then the final in the most agonizing way possible.The Union are well equipped to find their way back. Andre Blake is the reigning goalkeeper of the year, Jakob Glesnes was last season’s defender of the year and Dániel Gazdag will again provide the goals.Nashville should rely on last season’s league most valuable player, Hany Mukhtar, who led M.L.S. with 23 goals. After a shaky first season, Austin took a huge step forward by reaching the Cup semifinal last season and now will look to improve even more. Inter Miami was a .500 team last season, but it has added Josef Martínez, who had 98 goals in six years with Atlanta United. If he can regain his past scoring form, he makes any team a title contender.Josef Martínez, who ran circles around defenders in six years at Atlanta United, now will try to do the same for Inter Miami.Matias J. Ocner/Miami Herald, via Associated PressThe playoffs changed again. How will they work?Expansion and playoff tinkering are two time-honored M.L.S. traditions, and this week the league announced yet another new postseason format. This season, 18 teams will make the playoffs, up from 14, and there will be a new play-in round for the lowest-ranked two in each conference. After four years of strictly one-and-done games, M.L.S. will introduce a best-of-three format for the round of 16. But the quarterfinals and beyond will revert to single-game eliminations. Confused? Here’s some supplemental reading with all the rules.What about side competitions?The Concacaf Champions League, the regional championship that was won by an M.L.S. team, the Seattle Sounders, for the first time in 22 years last season, begins in March with L.A.F.C., Philadelphia, Vancouver, Orlando and Austin participating. The two-legged final ends on June 4.League games will be halted from mid-July to mid-August for an expanded 77-game Leagues Cup that will include every team from M.L.S. and Mexico’s Liga MX. Those games all will be held in the United States and Canada.And the American M.L.S. teams will join the venerable U.S. Open Cup, which dates back to 1914, in April, with the final scheduled for Sept. 27. The defending champion is Orlando City F.C., but the safest of bets is that an M.L.S. team will win it again. The last non-M.L.S. team to win the Open Cup was the Rochester Raging Rhinos in 1999. More

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      M.L.S. Playoff Preview: An L.A. Derby and More Questions Answered

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      Major League Soccer’s playoffs have reached the conference semifinals as the league sprints to finish before the World Cup.Major League Soccer is in a hurry to crown its champion this season, with its final set for Nov. 5 — just over two weeks before the World Cup opens in Qatar. The final sprint, which begins with four quarterfinals this week, includes some marquee matches that will offer some players a final opportunity (or two or three) to impress national team coaches before the final rosters for the World Cup are due in mid-November.This year’s playoffs feature two previous M.L.S. Cup champions (the Los Angeles Galaxy and New York City F.C.) and two teams (Austin F.C. and F.C. Cincinnati) that are making their first appearance in the postseason. But the postseason also has tracked closely with regular-season results: The top four teams in the Western Conference are still alive, as are four of the top five from the East.Philadelphia and Los Angeles F.C., which earned first-round byes by finishing first in their conferences, will enter the postseason at last on Thursday: Philadelphia faces F.C. Cincinnati, and L.A.F.C. hosts its crosstown rival, the Los Angeles Galaxy.On Sunday, New York City F.C., the league’s defending champion, will play C.F. Montreal, and F.C. Dallas will meet Austin F.C. in an all-Texas affair.The conference semifinals, which are single-game elimination matches, start on Thursday and will wrap up on Sunday. The conference finals are scheduled for Oct. 30, and the M.L.S. Cup final is set for Nov. 5 — the earliest date for the game in league history. The final will be played at the home of the finalist with the best regular season record.Read More on the 2022 World CupLavish Spending: No expense has been spared in putting on a show in Qatar. But the tournament is a feeling that money can’t buy, our soccer correspondent writes.United States: The American men’s soccer team has cycled through strikers during the qualifying period. It needs to settle on one before heading to Qatar.Brazil: As the team begins its quest for a sixth World Cup, it appears to have the resources needed to succeed — though Neymar still shoulders much of the load.Sticker Shock: In Argentina, the prospect of Lionel Messi’s last World Cup has helped feed a white-hot market for a beloved collectible, featuring long lines, surging prices and, briefly, government intervention.Here’s a quick catch-up of where things stand.The Battle of Los AngelesL.A.F.C., which won the Supporter’s Shield for posting the league’s best regular-season, will begin what it hopes is a home-field run to M.L.S. Cup on Thursday night, when its hosts the crosstown Los Angeles Galaxy at Banc of California Stadium. The venue has been a formidable challenge for visitors this season: L.A.F.C. went 13-2-2 there this season.L.A.F.C.’s first playoff test, though, like all games in the teams’ nascent rivalry, brings the potential for fireworks. The last time the two Los Angeles teams played against each other in a playoff game was in 2019, when L.A.F.C. won, 5-3, in one of the highest-scoring playoff games in M.L.S. history.Gabriel Pereira and New York City F.C. will be playing away from Yankee Stadium for as long as the Yankees remain in baseball’s playoffs.Mark Smith/USA Today Sports, via ReutersRoad Team F.C.New York City F.C. is trying to become the first team to win consecutive M.L.S. Cups since the Galaxy did it in 2011 and 2012. But unlike L.A.F.C., its path to the final — for now — looks to be a road trip.As long as the Yankees remain alive in Major League Baseball’s playoffs, N.Y.C.F.C. will be unable to play on its regular home field at Yankee Stadium. That proved to be little trouble in the first round, when the team beat Inter Miami, 3-0, at Citi Field in Queens. On Sunday, New York City F.C. will head to Montreal for a conference semifinal.In the quest for another title, N.Y.C.F.C. will count on their pair of Brazilians, Gabriel Pereira and Héber, who each scored eight goals in the regular season, and the potential of a return from injury of Talles Magno. Those three, and midfielder Santiago Rodríguez, have helped fill the offensive hole left by the midseason departure of last season’s leading scorer, the Argentine striker Valentín Castellanos, who joined the Spanish side Girona F.C. on a loan in July.N.Y.C.F.C. has been led since June by an interim coach, Nick Cushing, who took over after Ronny Deila left to join Standard Liège in Belgium. The team wobbled badly after the change, losing seven of nine games in August and September, but it closed the season with three straight wins.Montreal, meanwhile, might be the hottest team in the league: It has lost only once since July.Jesus Ferreira of F.C. Dallas was named this season’s M.L.S. young player of the year. The playoffs can serve as an audition for him to play for the United States in the World Cup.Jerome Miron/USA Today Sports, via ReutersFinal World Cup AuditionsFor some players, the playoffs offer more than just a shot at the M.L.S. Cup title. A number of players also are playing knowing that national team coaches will be watching.One player looking to lock down his spot — and some playing time — ahead of the World Cup is the 21-year-old forward Jesus Ferreira of F.C. Dallas. Ferreira, who was just named this season’s M.L.S. young player of the year, led Dallas with 18 goals in 33 games. He is in contention for a striker role for the United States, but a poor showing in a friendly against Japan in September didn’t help his case. A good run of playoff form, however, might help restore his confidence, and his place in U.S. Coach Gregg Berhalter’s plans.Another American hopeful is N.Y.C.F.C.’s goalkeeper Sean Johnson, who posted 14 shutouts during the regular season and started every game for New York. Johnson has an outside shot at making the roster and going to Qatar, even if he is not likely to be starter.Ismaël Koné, a 20-year-old midfielder for Montreal, is looking to earn a spot on Canada’s national team, which will be returning to the World Cup for the first time since 1986. Koné scored two goals and had five assists for Montreal during the regular season, and he scored a key goal in Montreal’s 2-0 victory over Orlando City in the first round of the playoffs. More

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      M.L.S. Preview: New Team, New Faces and a New York Champion

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      Major League Soccer returns to the field on Saturday for a season that will end early because of the World Cup in Qatar.Major League Soccer begins its season on Saturday, with an earlier start and an accelerated finish to accommodate the World Cup, another expansion team (and plans for more) and — for the first time — a New York-area club as the league’s reigning champion.Why the rush?The regular season will start in February so that it can wrap up with the M.L.S. Cup final on Nov. 5, the earliest date for the championship game in 20 years, and more than a month earlier than last season’s final. The shift has been made to keep the season out of the way of the World Cup, which kicks off on Nov. 21 in Qatar.A disruption-free season is the goal after the pandemic led to a significant revamp of the 2020 campaign and a delay and stadium restrictions in 2021. The league reports that its players are 97 percent vaccinated, which should help a lot.What’s new?Charlotte was awarded an M.L.S. team in 2019, but its arrival in the league was delayed a year by the pandemic.Nr/Associated PressFor the sixth straight year a season opens with a new expansion team: This year the newcomer is Charlotte F.C., growing the number of Major League Soccer teams with Football Club in their names to a dozen.There are more to come: St. Louis City S.C. (Soccer Club) joins next year, bringing the league to a city with a robust soccer heritage. St. Louis will be the league’s 29th team when it takes the field, and Las Vegas is expected to follow for an even 30. This week, Commissioner Don Garber said the league was already looking beyond that. “We’re beginning the process of deciding if it should expand to 32,” he said. “There are other North American leagues with that many teams, and I think our league could handle that.” No final determination has been made, though, he said.With Charlotte playing in the 75,000-capacity Bank of America Stadium, home of the N.F.L.’s Carolina Panthers, there is an expectation that its home opener against Los Angeles F.C. on March 5 will break the M.L.S. attendance record of 73,000, which was set at the 2018 final in Atlanta.Who are the title contenders?Carles Gil, right, won most valuable player honors last season after leading the New England Revolution to the top of the standings.Jeff Dean/Associated PressNew York City F.C., which won its first league championship last season by defeating the Portland Timbers on penalties, is returning most of its key players, notably Valentin Castellanos, who led the league with 22 goals. It has since added the 26-year-old Brazilian Thiago Martins to bolster its defense. But despite its playoff heroics, N.Y.C.F.C. had only the eighth best record in the regular season, and Cup repeats are rare: No team has done it since the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2011 and ’12.“That’s the goal, of course, to win again,” Coach Ronny Deila said this week. He said that while his team’s season ended where it wanted to be last season, not everything was perfect, and that, he hoped, would drive his team to improve.“We’re a champion,” he said. “It’s always hard to replicate that. At the same time, we were 20 points behind New England last year.”The New England Revolution posted the league’s best record in 2021, a stunning 22-5-7 mark that was 12 points clear of the next best team, but it will look a bit different. New England sold Tajon Buchanan, the 22-year-old Canadian midfielder, to Belgium’s Club Brugge; traded forward Teal Bunbury to Nashville; and will soon lose its rock, goalkeeper Matt Turner, to Arsenal. (Turner, now the United States national team’s No. 1, is expected to stay in New England through midseason.) The good news for the Revolution is that the reigning league M.V.P., Carles Gil, is back, and the veteran Jozy Altidore has been added for some more scoring punch.The Seattle Sounders nearly won the Western Conference last year despite playing all year without forward Jordan Morris, who sustained a second major knee injury while on loan at Swansea City in the English Championship, and the Philadelphia Union will have plenty of motivation after losing to New York in the playoffs when missing 11 players because of Covid.And L.A.F.C. is always going to be a contender as long as it has attacker Carlos Vela. “Having Carlos is incredible,” Coach Steve Cherundolo said. “He’s a goal scorer. He can set up goals. He’s an offensive threat, no matter what particular position he’s in. It’s great to have him.”Who are the new faces?The 20-year-old attacking midfielder Thiago Almada, left, joined Atlanta United from Argentina’s Vélez Sarsfield.Alejandro Pagni/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesM.L.S. officials sometimes bridle at the lingering perception that the league is a destination for stars in the twilight of their careers, and this year’s newcomers include a few members of the 30-and-over set: Italy’s former national captain, Lorenzo Insigne, 30, who will join Toronto F.C. in July; the Swiss wing Xherdan Shaqiri, 30, who signed with Chicago; and the Brazilian Douglas Costa, 31, who was acquired on loan by the Galaxy.But the new faces also include younger players, like the 20-year-old Argentine midfielder Thiago Almada, who joined Atlanta United for the highest transfer fee ever paid by the league: $16 million.“We are recently part of the global soccer ecosystem,” Garber said. “That was not the case several years ago. This is the first year the league has been in the top five in both incoming and outgoing player sales. That’s not by luck and happenstances. It’s a focused strategy to invest in youth development, to take advantage of a ripe and fertile market, and ensure we continue to have an attract product with international players.”Did I hear that Lionel Messi might be coming to M.L.S.?A recent comment from Lionel Messi had U.S. fans buzzing.Gonzalo Fuentes/ReutersMessi recently told a Spanish television channel, La Sexta, “I always had the dream of being able to enjoy and have the experience of living in the United States,” setting off an expected frenzy among stateside soccer fans. Of course, there is no evidence that he actually plans to come. More