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 past statues and filled trophy cases into 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 fell behind.
The Galaxy once ruled this young league. They transformed it with celebrity. They increased it with expenses. They became the most recognizable brand.
And they won. A lot of. 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 develop. As football became more advanced; and as the activities became more professional; and when club owners and sporting directors alike realized that the way to attract fans had more to do with quality on the pitch than big stars, the Galaxy failed to evolve for years. And so the Milky Way fell from their throne for almost a decade. Since their 2014 title, they have not advanced beyond the MLS quarterfinals; they missed the playoffs five times in seven years; they didn’t win a single trophy.
They also broke the roster rules. Their transfer activities often felt unscientific or chaotic. By 2023, their most loyal fans had had enough. Prominent supporter groups began boycotting home games. Turnout dropped. Accumulated losses. The external dissatisfaction, Vanney admits, began to affect those within the club.
That, in a nutshell, was the environment Will Kuntz found himself in last spring. His job, as senior vice president of player personnel and now general manager, was to revive this stumbling giant.
And a “key” part of his plan — the one that pushed the Galaxy back to the top of the Western Conference, into a home quarterfinal against Minnesota on Sunday (6 p.m. ET, FS1) — was to get rid of the club’s superficial identity . to “care less about who a player is, in terms of pedigree.”
“We wanted to move from taking stars,” says Kuntz, “to making stars.”
Rebuilding the Galaxy: From Star Power to Strategic Exploration
The 29-year history of Los Angeles’ only MLS original is littered with names you probably recognize. First, there were domestic stars, like Cobi Jones and Landon Donovan. Then there was David Beckham – and Robbie Keane, Steven Gerrard, Ashley Cole, Giovani dos Santos, Jonathan dos Santos, Chicharito and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. One would leave, the other would arrive, because, well, Why not? The Designated Player rule allows clubs to spend unlimited money on three stars. WHO wouldn’t Do you want someone you know with experience at the top of the sport?
Somewhere along the way, the Why seemed to disappear from front office equations. Or maybe the comparisons 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,” says Kuntz.
He saw it differently: “I think that’s a byproduct of who we are and why we won, but it’s not really what the core of the Galaxy is. What the Galaxy is really about is winning, being the flagship franchise of MLS and representing the city of Los Angeles with a dynamic, fun to watch team.
“And you can do that with really high-end international players at the end of their careers,” he clarifies. “But that’s not the most important thing.”
This was his pitch for ownership when he took the job last spring, succeeding crosstown rival LAFC. This was the field as he approached his first offseason with two vacant DP slots. To fill them, he asked a single question: “How good is the player? What will he bring to the group?”
“It’s really liberating,” he says, to just focus on that one thing.
And to answer the question, he relied on a scouting system and recruiting process that he, Vanney and others had spent years building and refining.
When the head coach arrived in 2021, “there was a lot of scouting through relationships, connections” and the occasional road trip. “It wasn’t a robust system,” Vanney says. It has lagged behind most other MLS clubs, which have integrated data, full-time scouts stationed on other continents and video.
“So,” says Vanney, “the initial rebuild of the team didn’t happen with a lot of advanced scouting. … It was like, ‘We need some players with speed, we need some 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 started setting up a scouting department. They created player profiles. They built and maintained shortlists of targets, position by position. “We have become more proactive,” says Vanney. They stopped chasing big names or quick fixes, and instead developed a longer-term plan – which they stuck with last year despite a spate of injuries and a 26th-place finish.
They then appeared on the shortlists last winter. And instead of looking at football celebrities, they looked at Belgium, where they had identified Ghanaian winger Joseph Paintsil; they looked to Brazil, where they had 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 stuck with Bosnian striker Dejan Joveljić as their number 9.
They did not actively shy away from the stars – and signed German striker Marco Reus as a free agent in the summer – but applied the same criteria to each target: “How good is he?”
And they quickly realized that the collective response was: Terribly.
Galaxy proves its worth without the glitter
In many ways, they realized it before they even won a game. During the opening weekend they hosted the league’s newest glamor club, Inter Miami. They welcomed Lionel Messi and friends, but not with open arms. They defeated Miami 24–11; they surpassed the eventual winners of the Supporters Shield, 3.4 expected goals (xG) to 0.6. “We played them against each other and we felt like we were the better team that day,” Vanney said. “We were just as good as them.”
By the final whistle they were heated and somewhat deflated. Sergio Busquets had simulated a foul to get LA player Marky Delgado off the field. Messi equalized in injury time. The match ended 1-1.
Later in the locker room and all evening in the stands everyone realized: “This team could be really good.”
Week after week, players fed off that energy, the opposite of what they had encountered last season. They sprinted to the top of the Western Conference, went undefeated at home, and stayed there for much of the season. On Decision Day, they coughed up the conference lead to LAFC. But they immediately rebounded in the play-offs. Riqui Puig, perhaps the best showman in the competition west of Florida, hosted a first round event in Colorado. The total score over two stages: Galaxy 9, Rapids 1.
And so their revival was undeniable, but its ultimate validation awaits. Sunday’s quarterfinal against Minnesota represents more than just a playoff game; it is a litmus test for the club’s redefined identity. A win puts them on a potential collision course for the conference finals with LAFC, their crosstown rivals and a modern MLS benchmark. They are the second favorite to host and win the MLS Cup. Celebrities seem completely unnecessary.
Defeat can cause old doubts to resurface. 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 bigger picture remains clear.
“There is so much joy, excitement and energy in our building,” Vanney says. “And our players can’t wait to come play, run and entertain.”
