Galaxy has lost its identity -- along with its coach and GM
Peter Vagenas has been around long enough to remember when the Galaxy was a high-flying team, free of troubles and playing the sort of soccer that entertains fans and wins titles.
It seems like another era, and the veteran midfielder is not sure it can ever be recaptured, no matter how many changes are made in the Galaxy’s front office, on the coach’s bench or on the field.
Tonight, the Galaxy plays Chivas USA at the Home Depot Center. Only one point separates the teams as the Major League Soccer season moves toward the playoffs, and the game has the rivalry’s usual edge.
With fewer than a dozen games left in the regular season, both teams need to win to keep from falling behind in a playoff race in which 14 teams are seeking one of eight spots. If the playoffs began today, neither the Galaxy nor Chivas would qualify.
But while it is Chivas USA’s home game, the focus will be on the Galaxy, as fans try to see just what effect this week’s upheaval will have on the team. Galaxy president and general manager Alexi Lalas is gone. Coach Ruud Gullit is gone.
One story line tonight is how the Galaxy will react to the departure of Gullit and the debut of Cobi Jones as interim coach. “I think that we have the talent and the quality to get things done,” Jones said. “I think it’s getting everybody on the same page and pointing them in the right direction.”
Jones, who retired last winter after playing 12 seasons for the Galaxy and on two MLS championship teams, was an assistant under Gullit.
“Everyone’s got to come together and be that one group and take on anything that comes our way,” Jones said.
Vagenas, 32, the team’s longest-serving player, is not sure how all the changes will work out. All he knows is that this is not the Galaxy team that was sweeping all before it when he first came aboard in 2000. Somewhere along the way, the team has lost its identity.
David Beckham, Landon Donovan and the rest of the Galaxy have been told by Tim Leiweke, chief executive of AEG, which owns the club, that they no longer have any excuses.
“The players don’t have any excuses to begin with, to be honest,” Vagenas said. “When you’re on that field, if you hate the coach or love the coach, you need to realize you’re playing for your job. Through the years I think the mentality has been lost or has been shifted.
“Before, it was easier. I followed the Cobis of the world, I followed the Alexis of the world, and if I didn’t do it, I knew I’d be gone,” he said.
“Maybe I haven’t done a good enough job, along with some of the older guys, of helping along some of the younger guys gain that mentality, but it starts in training. It’s on the players and it starts, obviously, with players like David, Landon, myself, [Chris] Klein, some of the older players.”
Can today’s Galaxy recapture the chemistry that existed when the team featured players such as Jones, Mauricio Cienfuegos, Robin Fraser, Jorge Campos, Simon Elliot, Chris Albright, Kevin Hartman, Ezra Hendrickson and others who made the club what it once was?
There was music in the locker room in those days, and smiles on the players’ faces. Both have long since vanished.
“To re-create the magic the Galaxy used to have, there’s no formula or everybody would do it,” Vagenas said.
“Unfortunately, we’ve fallen short. Our coach and our general manager took the hit for everybody. In the end, I think things will be revealed, and it will become clear exactly what happened. But until then, we have a game [tonight] and I guarantee you that Philip Anschutz is watching and Tim Leiweke is watching, and if that’s not motivation enough for this group, I don’t know.”
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CHIVAS USA-GALAXY TONIGHT
8, ESPN2, ESPN Deportes
Site -- Home Depot Center.
Radio -- 690.
Records -- Chivas USA 6-8-4; Galaxy 6-8-5.
Record vs Galaxy -- 0-1-1.
Update -- For Chivas Coach Preki it is points that matter, not bragging rights. “I’m not really concerned about the SuperClassico or who’s going to win the trophy,” he said of the silverware given to the series winner. “I would love to get a trophy, but I would love to get three points more.”
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GALAXY AT CHIVAS USA
When: Tonight, 8
Where: Home Depot Center
TV: ESPN2, ESPND
