CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy are comfortable with the target on their backs.
It's part of what defines them after these past half-dozen years with Bruce Arena, who built Major League Soccer's first dynasty nearly two decades ago and has topped it since arriving in Southern California in August 2008.
They're the standard-bearer in the league, with three MLS Cup titles in the past four years. They possess arguably the league's deepest and most talented roster – even after Landon Donovan's retirement – and look like they'll be tough to beat again in 2015, especially once Steven Gerrard arrives this summer.
Theirs is the loftiest position in MLS, and not just on the field. They're the league's premier asset – the one MLS club the entire world knows (thank you, David Beckham!) – have been at the forefront of the league's most important innovations in the past decade (especially the Designated Player rule, which brought Beckham to America, along with scores to follow), and have built the foundation of a model development system (with Galaxy II, which triggered this year's reserve-team boom, atop a first-class youth academy).
All the while gaining a reputation as a players' paradise.
“Our club wants to do things the right way. Set the standard,” said defender Todd Dunivant, whose second stint with the Galaxy began in 2009. “There can be a lot of platitudes and grand statements made – there have been – but in the end, I think our club does things the right way in a lot of areas, from the academy to the DPs we sign to the way they treat their players to the way they started Galaxy II. The upgrades they're making [to StubHub Center].
“I think the Galaxy see themselves as the best. Whether you agree with that or don't, they try to be, and they do things to put themselves in that position. You do those things and you try to put yourself in that position year after year, you're gonna give yourself the best odds of having a successful team and a successful organization. And you see that year after year we're in the conversation and in the race to win the championship.”
The club's philosophy is simple, and hardly unique: Win everything you can. It's the approach that's makes the difference. The emphasis is on the details.
LA had long been one of the league's top clubs – they played in five of the first 10 MLS Cups, with titles in 2002 and 2005. But Arena's arrival, late in that horrid 2008 campaign, changed everything. The Galaxy, then missing the postseason for the third straight year, were playing for an MLS Cup within 15 months.
LA are 113-53-54 in MLS matches, regular season and playoffs, in Arena's six full seasons in charge, and they've won at least 20 competitive games each of the past five years.
“[Owners AEG] believe in people, so they hire good people and allow those good people to do their jobs,” said Galaxy II coach Curt Onalfo, a former head coach with Kansas City and D.C. United. “There's no meddling. Bruce isn't being told what to do. He's great at what he does, let him do his job. That's half the battle sometimes.”
Arena is a team-building guru, blending superstars (such as Beckham, Donovan and Robbie Keane) with a mix of veterans and talented youngsters, and the formula has worked sublimely with LA.
The Galaxy also have benefited from uncommon chemistry.
Alan Gordon, who started his career with the club, left for stints with Chivas USA, Toronto FC and San Jose, then returned last season, says LA's players are considered “maybe spoiled” by others around the league.
“But when you're outside of it, you're a bit envious,” he said. “Because other organizations aren't supporting players like they do here. It just doesn't happen.”
Associate head coach Dave Sarachan says the “uniform response” from players who have been elsewhere in MLS is “wow, this place tries to do it right.”
“That's just the way it's evolved,” Sarachan said. “And just like teams are reflections of their coaches in a way, an organization is a reflection of its leadership. It's all kind of intertwined.”
Owner Philip Anschutz and AEG have lofty goals.
“We want to be aggressive in every aspect of the game, on and off the field,” AEG CEO Dan Beckerman said. “We want to compete for championships every year, we want to have the best talent, the best resources, the best facilities, a commitment to our development program, developing young players, being active with Designated Players.
“We want to be among the best teams in the world and the best team in Major League Soccer.”
There is work ahead. The club would like a greater presence in Los Angeles' crowded sports market, one dominated by the Dodgers and Lakers, USC and UCLA, and they'll not be satisfied as long as there are empty seats at StubHub. Only two of 17 league home games were sellouts in 2014.
“We're progressing,” said club president Chris Klein, a former Galaxy midfielder. “We've had our best offseason that we've ever had, in terms of selling new season tickets. ... We're going to to continue to make [the fan experience] better and continue to win, and those things will take care of themselves.”
Winning is demanded. And that's just a start.
“We're like the Lakers, the Yankees,” said technical director Jovan Kirovski, a former Galaxy forward. “If we don't win a championship, it's a failure. That's how we think.”
Sarachan sees it.
“The expectations now, fair or unfair, are that we should win every year, and we on the inside know how difficult that really is,” he said. “What we've done, three out of four in a league with parity, is almost impossible. The bar is set pretty high to represent ourselves in a way where our soccer is attractive, our players compete hard, we play for championships, and there's still uncharted territory.
“[CONCACAF] Champions League is still out there. That's something that as an organization we feel pretty strongly about, that if we are going to be pushing ourselves to whatever that next level is, we'd like to make a statement in our region.”
- Find more Galaxy news and notes at LAGalaxy.com
Arena said he was discussing contracts with some of his players' agents, and “they wanted to include bonuses in their contracts for making the playoffs. I said that doesn't work here. We'll gladly give bonuses for winning championships; we don't give bonuses for making the playoffs.”
The aim, Arena says, is “like Al Davis said: 'Win, baby, win.”
Well, close enough. That target on LA's back, it fits nicely. At least Arena thinks so.
“Bring it on,” he said. “Whatever. I think that's what we signed up for.”
