The Los Angeles Galaxy (commonly referred to as L.A. Galaxy ) is an American, professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club is a member of Major League Soccer (MLS). It is one of the ten charter franchises of MLS and is the league's second most-decorated club, after D.C. United. The name "Galaxy" is derived from Los Angeles being home to the 'stars' of Hollywood.
The club has won the MLS Cup twice (2002, 2005), the U.S. Open Cup twice (2001, 2005), and one of just two MLS teams to win a CONCACAF championship, which they accomplished in 2000. L.A. plays its home matches at The Home Depot Center in Carson, which they share with arch-rival, Chivas USA.
In January 2007, the club made international headlines by signing English superstar David Beckham, to a record deal potentially worth $250 million. L.A. is currently MLS' most profitable and popular club and is among the top teams in the league in attendance.
History
Further information: History of soccer in Los Angeles1996-2005: Decade of success
The LA Galaxy appeared in the first MLS Cup in 1996 losing to D.C. United. They appeared in it two more times in 1999 and 2001 before finally winning it in 2002. They were regular season champions of the Western Conference in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002, winning the league's Supporters' Shield for best record in 1998 and 2002. They won the U.S. Open Cup in 2001 and 2005 and won the CONCACAF Champions' Cup in 2000. After losing to Landon Donovan and the San Jose Earthquakes in MLS Cup 2001 and in the 2003 MLS Cup playoffs, AEG orchestrated the transfer of Landon Donovan to the Galaxy in 2005, and the Galaxy won the MLS Cup a second time in 2005 to cap off their first decade. The Galaxy hold the singular distinction of having made the MLS playoffs in each of the club's first ten seasons*.
- The league consisted of 10 teams, of which 8 made the playoffs.
2006-Present
2006: First taste of failure
The 2006 season began on March 16 with the sudden death of Doug Hamilton, the team's 43-year-old general manager, who suffered a heart attack on board a plane carrying the team back from Costa Rica where they had played Saprissa in the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. The season is considered the worst in the Galaxy's history, as the team finished fifth in the Western Conference, eliminating them from playoff contention for the first time since the league's inception. Midway through the season, Steve Sampson was sacked as Head Coach, replaced by Frank Yallop. The team managed to make a run to the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup final, but lost 3-1 against the Chicago Fire.
2007: Arrival of David Beckham and more struggles
On January 11, 2007, Reuters reported that former England captain David Beckham would leave Real Madrid at the end of the season and enter into a five-year deal with the Galaxy.
In March 2007 it was announced that Herbalife would be the primary shirt sponsor of the Galaxy in a five-year deal worth between $4–5 million a year until 2011.
On July 21, David Beckham made his long-awaited debut before a record crowd of nearly 30,000 at The Home Depot Center, coming on in the 78th minute in a 1-0 loss to Chelsea in a match during the World Series of Football tournament. The match brought unprecedented TV coverage from ESPN, who used 19 cameras to cover it, including one trained only on Beckham, even when he was on the bench. The match set an all-time record high for TV ratings for MLS on ESPN.
The Galaxy played to good results in the Superliga competition, which featured four MLS teams and four Mexican league teams. The Galaxy advanced to the Superliga finals, facing Pachuca, which the Galaxy had defeated in the first round. The Galaxy lost after extra-time on penalty kicks.
In the SuperLiga match versus FC Dallas on July 31, a total of 11 goals were scored, with the final 6-5 in favor of Galaxy. This match tied the all-time record for number of goals scored in a match between two MLS sides, and the win guaranteed the Galaxy a spot in the tournament's semifinals.
In August, following five successive league defeats, pressure mounted on the club, especially head coach, Frank Yallop, and there were widespread rumors that he would be sacked. However, their fortunes turned around and after five straight league victories, the Galaxy's post-season hopes were surprisingly still alive toward the end of the season.
The Galaxy were officially eliminated from the playoffs on October 21, in a 1-0 loss to the Chicago Fire. With a final season record of 9-14-7, both unpopular general manager Alexi Lalas and head coach Frank Yallop were rumored to be in danger of being sacked by owner Philip Anschutz, after a second consecutive season in which the club failed to reach the post-season.
Offseason: departures and arrivals
After the 2007 season Cobi Jones retired. In addition, several players were expected to leave the club in the offseason. Former Germany manager and Orange County, California resident, Jürgen Klinsmann, was rumored to be the favorite to replace Yallop as head coach.
Amidst rumors that he was going to be sacked, Yallop resigned as head coach on November 4, 2007, following a friendly match at Home Depot Center. MLS expansion club, the San Jose Earthquakes, bought out his contract and offered a 3rd round draft pick to the Galaxy to make Yallop their new head coach.
On November 7, rumors spread that former Chelsea, Newcastle United, and Feyenoord manager, Ruud Gullit, had accepted an offer to be the Galaxy's new head coach. On November 9, Gullit was officially unveiled as the Galaxy's head coach, signing a three-year contract with the club which made him the highest paid coach in MLS history. Newly-retired Galaxy and international star Cobi Jones was brought on as assistant coach.
On November 19, 2007, the Galaxy acquired U.S. international Clint Mathis from New York for a third round pick in the 2008 MLS SuperDraft. He made his debut for the Galaxy in a friendly at Telstra Stadium against Sydney and scored the first goal in the Galaxy's match versus Wellington Phoenix. In a strange move which led to more criticism of under-fire club G.M. Alexi Lalas, less than two months after acquiring Mathis, he was sold to Greek club Ergotelis. It is believed that coach Ruud Gullit did not want Mathis in his squad. On November 21, in the 2007 MLS Expansion Draft, the Galaxy lost forward Gavin Glinton with the ninth pick to stock expansion club, the San Jose Earthquakes.
The Galaxy went on a promotional tour of Australia and New Zealand and played two friendlies with teams of the new Australian A-League. In a match against Sydney on November 27, captain David Beckham scored via a trademark free kick, but the Galaxy lost, 5-3. The match resulted in the largest attendance in Australia for a club friendly, with just over 82,000 spectators, and was the first game since the A-leagues inception that a game was televised on free to air television. The Galaxy recorded a 4-1 win over Wellington Phoenix on December 1. Beckham again scored, this time from the penalty spot, during the second half. The attendance of 31,853 was a record for a football match in New Zealand. L.A. plans a friendly against FC Barcelona for late June.
On January 10, 2008, goalkeeper Joe Cannon was sold to the San Jose Earthquakes, where he was reunited with Frank Yallop, for an undisclosed allocation fee. While Cannon was very popular with Galaxy supporters and his performances were one of the few positives last season, salary cap space was required for new striker Carlos Ruiz. Steve Cronin, who recently signed a multi-year contract extension with L.A., was expected to be the starting goalkeeper for the club next season. The team also signed the 2007 USL1 Goalkeeper of the Year, Josh Wicks, as Cronin's backup.
On January 15, 2008, the Galaxy reacquired 28-year-old striker Carlos Ruiz from FC Dallas to replace the ineffective Carlos Pavon, who had been recently released by the club, for a second-round draft pick in 2009 and an undisclosed amount of allocation money. This is Ruiz' second stint with the Galaxy, where from 2002-04, he was the club's leading scorer in each season, garnering MLS MVP honors and scoring a league-best 24 goals enroute to leading the club to its first MLS Cup championship in 2002. In 2005, he was dealt to F.C. Dallas to make way for Landon Donovan. Ruiz is the leading scorer in MLS postseason history and is the 8th leading scorer in league history. In Ruiz, L.A. has secured a proven goal-scorer, something they seriously lacked last season, and supporters will eagerly await how he partners with captain David Beckham and strike partner, Landon Donovan.
In January, rumors began to circulate that the Galaxy was interested in acquiring Inter Milan midfielder Luís Figo and that a deal may have already been signed. The purchase of Carlos Ruiz rather than an established striker from Europe (such as Andriy Shevchenko), who would take up the club's second designated player slot (which the Galaxy would need to acquire from another club), increased the speculation that Figo would be reunited with former Real Madrid teammate, David Beckham, in Los Angeles On January 18, 2008, the speculation intensified when the Galaxy sold defender Chris Albright to the New England Revolution for an undisclosed allocation fee. Rumor sites had been claiming for weeks that if Albright was sold to clear up salary space, Figo would be on his way to L.A. after his contract expires with Inter Milan in
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