The juxtaposition, in January 2021, was stark. When Greg Vanney returned to Major League Soccer’s winningest franchise, the LA Galaxy, as head coach, he walked among statues and filled trophy cases, toward a club that seemed stuck in the past. “There wasn’t really a scouting department,” Vanney recalls. The “sports science department…was one man’s computer.” And the result was that the kings of MLS 2.0 were left behind.
The Galaxy once ruled this fledgling league. They transformed him into celebrity. They raised it with the expense. They became his most recognizable brand.
And they won. A lot. They reached nine of the first 19 MLS Cup finals. They won five.
They were the envy of the league, a destination for marketable stars, until MLS began to evolve. As his football became more sophisticated; and as their operations become more professional; and when both owners and sporting directors realized that the way to attract fans was with quality on the field rather than big-name stars, the Galaxy, for years, failed to evolve with that. And so, for almost a decade, the Galaxy fell from its throne. Since their 2014 title, they have not made it past the MLS quarterfinals; they missed the playoffs five times in seven years; They have not lifted a trophy of any kind.
they too list rules violated. His transfer business often seemed unscientific or chaotic. By 2023, his most loyal followers had had enough. Prominent groups of supporters began to boycott home games. Attendance decreased. Accumulated losses. The external discontent, Vanney admits, began to affect the humans within the club.
That, in a nutshell, was the environment Will Kuntz entered last spring. His task, as senior vice president of player personnel and now general manager, was to revive this faltering giant.
And an “important” part of their plan – the plan that pushed the Galaxy back to the top of the Western Conference, into the quarterfinals at home against Minnesota this Sunday (6 p.m. ET, FS1) – was to ditch the superficial identity of the club. to “worry less about who a player is, in terms of pedigree.”
“We wanted to move from star capture,” Kuntz says, “to star creation.”
Rebuilding the Galaxy: From Star Power to Strategic Exploration
The 29-year history of Los Angeles’ only original MLS team is filled with names you probably know. First, there were the national stars, like Cobi Jones and Landon Donovan. Then there were David Beckham, Robbie Keane, Steven Gerrard, Ashley Cole, Giovani dos Santos, Jonathan dos Santos, Chicharito and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. One left, another arrived, because well, why not? The Designated Player rule allows clubs to spend unlimitedly on three stars. WHO I wouldn’t do it Do you want well-known people with experience at the top of the sport?
But somewhere along the way, the because seemed to fall outside the front office’s equations. Or, perhaps, the equations strayed too far from football.
“There was a belief that getting these big European stars was part of our ethos and part of our culture, part of who we are,” Kuntz says.
He saw it differently: “I think it’s a byproduct of who we are and why we win, but it’s not really the core of the Galaxy. What the Galaxy is really about is winning, being the flagship MLS franchise, and representing the city of Los Angeles with a dynamic and fun-to-watch team.
“And that can be done with very high-level international players at the end of their career,” he clarifies. “But that’s not the most important thing.”
This was his ownership pitch when he accepted the job last spring, jumping from cross-town rival LAFC. This was the tone as he approached his first offseason with two DP spots vacant. To fill them out, I would ask a single question: “How good is the player? What will he bring to the group?
“It’s really liberating,” he says, to focus on just that one thing.
And to answer the question, he relied on a scouting system and recruiting process that he, Vanney and others had been building and perfecting for years.
When the head coach arrived in 2021, “a lot of exploration was done through relationships, connections” and the occasional road trip. “It wasn’t a solid system,” Vanney says. It lagged behind most other MLS clubs, which have been integrating data, full-time scouts located on other continents and video.
“So,” Vanney says, “our initial team rebuild didn’t involve much advanced scouting. … It was like, ‘We need some players with speed, we need certain qualities to add to this team… What’s out there and what can we get?’ What can we afford? ‘Who’s ready to move?’”
At the same time, however, the club began to build a scouting department. They created player profiles. They built and maintained short lists of targets, position by position. “We started to be more proactive,” Vanney says. They stopped chasing big names or quick fixes and instead developed a longer-term plan, which they stuck to last year, despite a series of injuries and a 26th-place finish.
Then last winter they made the short lists. And instead of looking at football celebrities, they looked at Belgium, where they identified Ghanaian winger Joseph Paintsil; They headed to Brazil, where they found 23-year-old winger Gabriel Pec. They added American goalkeeper John McCarthy and Japanese defender Miki Yamane. They signed Spanish striker Miguel Barry, but kept Bosnian striker Dejan Joveljić as their number 9.
They didn’t actively shy away from stars (and, in the summer, signed German attacker Marco Reus as a free agent), but they applied the same criteria to each target: “How good is he?”
And they quickly realized that the collective response was: Very.
Galaxy proves its worth without ostentation
They realized it, in many ways, before they even won a game. On opening weekend, they hosted the league’s newest and most glamorous club, Inter Miami. They welcomed Lionel Messi and friends, but not with open arms. They outshot Miami 24-11; They outperformed the eventual Supporters Shield winners, 3.4 expected goals (xG) versus 0.6. “We went toe-to-toe with them and felt like we were the better team that day,” Vanney says. “We were as good as they were.”
At the final whistle, they were hot and somewhat deflated. Sergio Busquets had simulated a foul that caused the expulsion of the LA player, Marky Delgado. Messi equalized in injury time. The match ended 1-1.
But later in the locker room and in the stands all night, everyone realized: “This team could be really good.”
Week after week, the players fed off that energy, the polar opposite of what they had encountered last season. They raced to the top of the Western Conference, went undefeated at home and stayed there for much of the season. On decision day, they ceded the conference lead to LAFC. But they bounced back instantly in the playoffs. Riqui Puig, perhaps the league’s greatest showman west of Florida, orchestrated a first-round loss to Colorado. Overall score in two games: Galaxy 9, Rapids 1.
Therefore, its resurgence has been undeniable, but it awaits its definitive validation. Sunday’s quarterfinal clash against Minnesota represents more than just a playoff game; It is a litmus test for the club’s redefined identity. A victory puts them in a possible conference final collision with LAFC, their city rivals and a modern MLS bellwether. They are the second favorites to host and win the MLS Cup. Celebrities seem totally unnecessary.
But a defeat could cause old doubts to reappear. For all the energy and optimism surrounding this team, the path to sustained success in MLS is rarely linear. Still, for Vanney and Kuntz, the big picture remains clear.
“There is so much joy, excitement and energy in our building,” Vanney says. “And our players just can’t wait to come play, run and be entertained.”