The LA Galaxy won the MLS Cup at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson on Dec. 7.
Less than three months later, they opened the 2025 season there against expansion San Diego FC. And lost 2-0, ending a 22-game home unbeaten streak.
“We didn’t look like a team,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said, “that just won the championship.”
They still don’t.
SDFC and the Galaxy meet again Saturday afternoon at 1:30 p.m., this time at Snapdragon Stadium.
The MLS season is approaching its midpoint, and the defending champ’s record should be accompanied by an asterisk noting: “This is not a misprint.”
Fourteen games. No wins, 10 losses, four ties.
That’s the worst start in league history through 14 games and, by most s, the worst start by a defending champion in U.S. pro sports history. Five months after beating New York Red Bulls for the club’s sixth MLS Cup title, the Galaxy lost the rematch 7-0 in New York — seven-nil — prompting an impromptu team scolding on the field by Vanney after the final whistle.
“This is a horrible night,” Vanney told media afterward. “On rare occasions over the course of a season, you have an absolute (expletive) and tonight we did. … It totally got away from us, and that’s something we have to address and address quickly.
“We got smashed. Let’s hope this is the rock bottom.”
The Galaxy has shown marginal improvement since, taking a 2-0 lead against Philadelphia before losing 3-2 on a goal in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time. Last weekend, they got a late score from Marco Reus to salvage a 2-2 tie in the “El Trafico” derby against LAFC.
But still … 0-10-4?
By the defending champs?
The Galaxy did an unusual thing last week, at least by pro sports’ penchant for impatience, and gave Vanney a three-year contract extension that reportedly makes him among the league’s highest-paid coaches. That speaks to their confidence in a coach who has won more than 400 games in 11 years and MLS Cup titles with two different franchises. That also serves as a tacit acknowledgement that there are other, more powerful forces at work here.
This is the price of success in a single-entity league with a convoluted salary structure bent on achieving parity at the expense of dynasties. No club has won back-to-back titles since the Galaxy did in 2012, and only two defending champs have even made it back to the final.
In the weeks after hoisting the cup, the Galaxy jettisoned several key pieces to stay under the $5.95 million salary cap for 2025, most notably leading scorer Dejan Joveljic to Sporting Kansas City and MLS Cup MVP Gaston Brugman to Nashville. Veteran Japanese center back Maya Yoshida figured to the talent drain but ultimately took a pay cut — yes, a pay cut after captaining his team to a title — so his daughter wouldn’t have to change schools.
“I know I’ve talked a lot about roster rules,” Galaxy general manager Will Kuntz told The Athletic, “and I don’t say it to be defensive. But I think it’s a reality of our league.”
SDFC sporting director Tyler Heaps put it like this: “They went for it, and fair play, they won it. I think that’s what they should say. They put all their chips in it and made gs that they knew were going to hinder them in the future.
“When you win, your bonus structure hits the next year in the MLS, and that hits your (salary) cap. They had guys expiring in their U22 slots. They had all these things they kind of knew were going to happen, and that meant they had to buy out some people who were key contributors. Now the guys they chose to keep around are not performing at the level they were expected to perform. An injury or two, and it becomes really difficult.”
All three of the team’s designated players, who don’t count against the salary cap, have missed multiple games this season. That includes an ACL tear to Spanish playmaker Riqui Puig that will keep him out until at least August.
“Look across the league, and take their three DPs out on most teams and you have a totally different team,” Vanney said after the Red Bulls’ drubbing when none of his three played. “I’m not slighting any of our guys. We have a young group of players because some of the middle tier of players … are guys that unfortunately we weren’t able to keep and we’ve replaced them with young guys in our midfield.
“We’re in this weird place where we’re trying to give young guys the experience to get them to where they need to be. And they’re surrounded by older players who have a ton of experience and know-how, but they need the younger players to do that (running) work.”
It has meant some weird results. Topping the list is the 1-0 loss earlier this month after, yes, not allowing a shot (while taking 11 themselves). The game’s lone goal came when Yoshida inadvertently deflected a Sporting KC cross into his own net.
“That’s the thing about football: anything is possible,” SDFC midfielder Anders Dreyer said. “Fourteen games, they haven’t won. It’s not something you see quite often (from a defending champion). It just shows the MLS competition is strong and everybody can beat everybody.”
Through 14 games, the Galaxy have allowed 33 goals and scored just 12. They went from averaging 2.02 goals last season to .86. The record for fewest wins in MLS history is three by DC United in 2013 (3-24-7).
The silver lining: MLS does not have relegation and promotion with a lower division, as nearly every other pro soccer league in the world does. The Galaxy gets to stay in MLS no matter what happens this season.
MLS is also not waged in the caldron of European or South American soccer culture, with incessant fan and media pressure to achieve. The Galaxy can give the coach of a 0-10-4 team a lucrative three-year extension with an eye toward promoting continuity and relegating dissension.
“This is a lesson in making sure you respect the champion,” said SDFC coach Mikey Varas, whose team sits in third place in the 15-team Western Conference, 20 points above the last-place Galaxy. “They’re champions until someone else wins the championship. From a data perspective, there are multiple games they should have won. They still have guys who just won a final.
“And they have guys who are hungry. Maybe at the beginning of the season, I don’t know. Maybe they come in and it’s hard to come back down from that high. But right now, where they’re sitting, I’m telling you, in that locker room, they’re chomping at the bit to get their first W.”
San Diego FC (7-4-3) vs. LA Galaxy (0-10-4)
When: 1:45 p.m., Saturday
Where: Snapdragon Stadium
TV: AppleTV+
Radio: 760-AM (English), 1700-AM (Spanish)
