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Jeff Carlisle, U.S. soccer correspondentDec 6, 2024, 10:00 AM ET
- Jeff Carlisle covers MLS and the U.S. national team for ESPN FC.
On Wednesday afternoon, Andrew Alesana, the president of the LA Galaxy supporters group, the LA Riot Squad, had an urgent message he wanted delivered to the team’s GM, Will Kuntz. It was in the form of a meme he discovered on YouTube that featured the Kanye West lyric “He’s done miracles on me” from his song “No Child Left Behind.”
“Do me a favor and play this for [Kuntz],” texted Alesana. “And tell him thank you.”
When it was shown to Kuntz later that afternoon, the Galaxy GM responded with a laugh, an acknowledgement of his current exalted status among the Galaxy faithful. He’s well aware that such sentiments can change in an instant, though.
“The same people who are loving me now, in about 18 months, will be calling for my head,” he said with a smile. He then quipped, “The ‘Kuntz Out’ train is coming. It’s a question of when, not if.”
For now, that’s unlikely. After enduring a tumultuous 2023 — a season that included a fan boycott by its most ardent supporters, a second-to-last place finish in the Western Conference and the firing of longtime executive Chris Klein — the good times are back at Dignity Health Sports Park. On Saturday, the Galaxy will take on the New York Red Bulls in MLS Cup.
Alesana, 37, is a big bear of a man who, as he looks across Legends Plaza at Dignity Health Sports Park, with its statues of David Beckham and Landon Donovan, is still coming to grips with what has transpired in 2024.
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“It’s really hard to believe, honestly, even being here last Saturday and just sort of experiencing a Western Conference final and a win,” Alesana said. “I’m still a little bit in disbelief that we’ll play on Saturday for another MLS Cup for the first time in 10 years.”
For Galaxy fans, it’s a case of being back where they belong. The team has long considered itself MLS royalty, with some justification. The match will mark the 10th time the Galaxy have played in MLS’ championship match, and a win will see LA extend its record number of MLS titles to six. Before the aforementioned barren 10-year run without an MLS Cup appearance, the longest the Galaxy had gone without reaching the final was four years.
Yet it’s still staggering to think that the Galaxy are on the brink of another title, given where this team was 22 months ago. Suffice it to say, the Galaxy renaissance began with a boycott.
Prior to the 2023 season, a roster rule violation from carrying too many designated players resulted in a $1 million fine, a transfer ban on players from abroad in that year’s summer transfer window as well as a $1 million reduction in allocation money. Combined with nearly a decade of mediocrity, as well as the fact that the Galaxy rewarded Klein with a contract extension, it was all too much for the diehard fans, who said they would boycott matches until Klein and technical director Jovan Kirovski — the common threads during the Galaxy’s barren spell — were fired.
“It was very painful to come and to hear the games getting played and we’re out here at the Legend Plaza [protesting]” said Manny Martinez, president of the Galaxy Outlawz, another supporters group that participated in the boycott. “It was nothing against the players. We’ve always said that we’ve always supported the players, but it was a front office change that we needed.”
With some exceptions, the supporters groups largely stayed away, and their absence was felt.
“It was definitely noticeable,” Galaxy midfielder Mark Delgado said. “You can’t not see it, and just say, ‘We’re fine. We can move on.’ No, they’re a huge part of the team’s success.”
Mark Delgado and the LA Galaxy have enjoyed a sensational turnaround in 2024 following a disastrous 2023 campaign full of fan boycotts. Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
The two sides engaged in a game of chicken until matters finally came to a head on May 29. An embarrassing 1-0 home loss to Charlotte FC left the Galaxy bottom of the Western Conference, and resulted in fans — those who were still attending, anyway — chanting at players, “We want better!” Galaxy manager Greg Vanney went over to try to defuse the situation. It took Kuntz, who hadn’t even been on the job two months, to come over and usher Vanney away.
Two days later, Klein and Kirovski were fired. While it would be a stretch to say it’s been all sweetness and light since — the Galaxy still finished near the bottom of the league in 2023 — it does provide something of a demarcation line.
Kuntz went to work rebuilding the roster, with his primary goal being to make the team younger and quicker. Adding Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil did just that on the wings but there other, less heralded additions as well, including defenders John Nelson, Miki Yamane and Emiro Garcés. Vanney then went about fusing the talents, including that of the incomparable Riqui Puig, together.
“It was hard. It was difficult and we were all supportive and leaning on each other,” Vanney said about the process of working through 2023 and beyond. “The beauty of it is not one person turned on anything all year. You never heard one guy complain or one guy turn on anybody. Everybody was committed and everybody was on the same page, at least internally. And we were just going to fight through it and we were going to take it on the chin if that’s what it meant.”
The improvement was evident from the beginning of 2024, starting with a 1-1 draw against powerhouse Inter Miami.
“We knew that they were going to fight and run,” Martinez said. “After that game, we knew we had some fighters that wanted to prove something. So it gave us some sense of like, ‘Hey, we’re not going to be last place any more. We’re going to be in the playoffs, we’re going to be in tournaments, we’re going to be in games.’ And as you saw, a lot of the fans enjoyed it.”
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They also enjoyed the validation of knowing that even among the corporate vibes of MLS, fans still do have the power of the purse and can influence matters even at boardroom level.
“I do think it goes to show you that there definitely can be direct action when you are the ones paying for the seats and paying to be here and buying expensive beers and buying food, everything inside and merch,” Alesana said. “You can directly affect your club.”
While the Galaxy supporters are hoping to recreate memories from the past, the Red Bulls are trying to shed them. This is just the second time that the Red Bulls have reached MLS Cup. That first was back in 2008, when the Columbus Crew dispatched New York 3-1 on their way to an MLS Cup and Supporters’ Shield double.
In just about every other year, the Red Bulls managed to take playoff heartbreak to increasingly excruciating levels. There is no shortage of postseason poison from which to choose. There was 2019, when the Red Bulls blew a 3-1 lead against the Philadelphia Union to lose 4-3. There was 2012, when a heavily favored New York team fell to bitter rivals D.C. United on a late Nick DeLeon goal, a match that included a penalty kick by Kenny Cooper that he scored but then had waived off due to a New York player encroaching in the penalty area. Cooper then had his retake saved. The Union’s Jakob Glesnes did in the Red Bulls again in 2021 with a laser blast in added time of extra time.
When asked to identify his most brutal playoff moment, Mark Fishkin, who hosts the “Seeing Red!” podcast alongside Joe Goldstein, can’t focus on one. Instead he says, “C’mon, man. How much time do you have?” before adding, “It’s not a single moment, it’s a litany of moments.”
Yet all of the “That’s So Metro” negativity, dating back to when the team was called the MetroStars, has been turned on its head in this postseason, not that there was much of an inkling of a deep run. The Red Bulls had managed to win just two of their past 14 regular-season games. But a tactical switch by manager Sandro Schwarz, one that featured a three-man back line, gave the team some belief. So did the return from injury of Emil Forsberg — the Red Bulls have gone 11W-3D-5L with the former RB Leipzig standout in the lineup — and the performances followed.
The Red Bulls dispatched the heavily favored Columbus Crew in two games. Then came a 2-0 win against city rivals New York City FC, this just two months after NYCFC had hammered the Red Bulls 5-1. After New York dispatched Orlando City SC in the Eastern Conference final, there were tears shed among some of the supporters present.
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The Red Bulls organization is intent on repaying that faith. According to a Red Bulls spokesperson, the club has purchased more than 2,000 tickets for Saturday’s final. Three hundred are going to season ticket holders, with another 700 going to members of various supporters groups. That latter number is also receiving $300 each to help defray travel costs.
Two of those 700 are Jimmy Ponce, 39, and his wife, Xochitl, members of the Viking Army supporters group, who a week after their wedding in 2013 went to an away match in Columbus. He describes the run to the final as “shocking,” before adding, “You get kind of numb after all these years” of playoff failure.
“I think we’re embracing the underdog role pretty good. Extremely good,” he said. “We’ve had years where we’re expected to win. We had a Supporters’ Shield three years, in 2014, 2015, 2018. I felt like maybe the pressure got to the players a little bit. I think we’re the lowest seed to make it to MLS Cup, and I think that plays a huge part in it, that we’re fighting and we weren’t expected to make it this far.”
It’s worth noting that the Red Bulls’ roster has a heavy dose of local flavor. Of the 11 players that started the Eastern Conference final against Orlando, three are Red Bull academy graduates and the Nealis brothers, Sean and Dylan, are from Long Island, bucking what is seemingly an increasing emphasis on young players from abroad. One of those academy grads, Peter Stroud was a ball boy the first time a Hudson River Derby was held at Red Bull Arena.
“I was always a really big fan. Kind of grew up in the club, so I’m aware of the history and now the fan base has been starved for a trophy,” Stroud said prior to Thursday’s practice session in Los Angeles. “So to have an opportunity on Saturday to do that, it’s amazing.”
There is also a sense that the Red Bulls are due. The team has missed the playoffs just four times in nearly 30 years of existence. Perhaps this time, the luck that has been absent will be theirs.
The Red Bulls are 11W-3D-4L with Emil Forsberg in the lineup, so the former RB Leipzig standout’s return from injury is a boost to the New York club. Tom Horak-Imagn Images
“I think it’s necessary,” Fishkin said about luck. “Look, in 2021, New York City FC won two penalty shootouts and beat the Philadelphia Union, who was missing six starters who were out with Covid. You have to have luck. And what Ronny Deila said after they lifted the cup in 2021 was if you make the playoffs long enough, eventually you’ll win it. And I replied, except us. We make the playoffs every year and we never win it.”
Even now, the Soccer Gods seem to be smiling on the Red Bulls. Puig, the Galaxy talisman all season, is out with a torn ACL in his left knee. Watching him leave the Galaxy’s training session on Wednesday on crutches was a sobering sight indeed. Marco Reus is an injury doubt as well.
It makes the fact that Puig played 30 minutes in the Western Conference final against Seattle with the injury, and still dealt the assist on Dejan Joveljic‘s game-winner, absolutely mind-blowing.
“It hurts a lot,” said Martinez about the injury to Puig. “He has also suffered with us, with the transition of the new front office, all that.”
With the title so close, though, it doesn’t take much for Galaxy fans to still dream of the cup being hoisted. If that happens, Alesana plans to take the Kanye/Kuntz meme a step further.
“I want to make that a chant,” he said. “If we win, I’ll make sure that that gets done at some point.”
If that happens, Kuntz will enjoy the acclaim for as long as it lasts.
