Earlier than becoming a member of the Galaxy two years in the past, Christian Ramírez spent two seasons with the Columbus Crew, successful an MLS Cup one yr after which failing to get out of the primary spherical of the playoffs the following.
The lesson, Ramírez mentioned, is it’s far simpler to climb to the highest of the league than it’s to remain there. And if the Galaxy, who gained the MLS Cup final season, didn’t know that already they actually discovered Sunday once they opened protection of their title with a listless, lifeless 2-0 loss to San Diego FC.
The loss was the group’s first at Dignity Well being Sports activities Park in 22 video games and made the Galaxy the primary reigning MLS champion to lose their season opener to an enlargement group. The Galaxy might have sneaked up on groups final yr, however this season they’ll be taking part in with an enormous goal on their backs.
“It becomes a championship game for teams to prove themselves against us,” Ramírez mentioned. “It’s a little bit of the curse of the championship.”
And the MLS Cup Curse is actual.
No MLS group has gained back-to-back titles since Bruce Area’s Galaxy in 2011-12. Since then, solely two groups — the Seattle Sounders and LAFC — have even made consecutive appearances within the closing.
Extra typical is the expertise of Toronto FC, which gained the Cup in 2017 then missed the playoffs the following season, dropping 18 video games, then the second-most in franchise historical past. Or Columbus, which gained the Cup in 2020, then missed the playoffs the following yr.
Ramírez, together with defender Eriq Zavaleta (Toronto, 2017) and goalkeeper John McCarthy (LAFC, 2022), are the one gamers on the Galaxy roster who’ve lived the curse. So it’s as much as them, Ramírez mentioned, to show the lesson.
“It’s something that I’ll be able to pass [on], knowing what is coming, how teams get up for these games,” he mentioned.
That may be a extra beneficial contribution than the one Ramírez made on the sphere Sunday. The alternative for striker Dejan Joveljic, who was traded to Sporting Kansas Metropolis after scoring the successful objective within the MLS Cup closing, Ramírez was invisible in opposition to San Diego, taking simply 12 touches and failing to get off a shot in 63 minutes.
However he wasn’t the one one who underwhelmed. Midfielders Marco Reus and Lucas Sanabria, taking part in rather than the Riqui Puig, out indefinitely with a torn ACL, and Mark Delgado, who was traded, had been additionally ineffective. With out Puig and winger Joseph Paintsil, lacking with a quadriceps harm, Gabriel Pec was the one designated participant on the sphere, leaving the Galaxy’s so-called Killers Ps to get replaced by what coach Greg Vanney known as the Lethal Ds; an assault that was disconnected, disjointed and never very dynamic.
“We didn’t look like a team that just won the championship,” the coach mentioned. “We looked like a team that was fitting some things together.”
Which it’s. An enormous motive for the MLS Cup Curse is the league’s sophisticated, cruel and convoluted wage construction, which punishes success by making it robust to squeeze the efficiency bonuses and the raises that include a championship below a frugal finances cap. That’s why 5 starters from final season are not on the Galaxy roster and a sixth, defender Maya Yoshida, who led MLS in minutes performed whereas captaining the Galaxy to the title, needed to take a pay lower to come back again.
That’s additionally why 4 of the gamers who appeared in Sunday’s opener weren’t even on the group for December’s MLS Cup closing. If that wasn’t an excuse for the Galaxy’s listless efficiency, it was not less than at clarification.
Yoshida, nevertheless, was having none of that.
“There’s no excuse,” he mentioned. “It’s a new season. Everybody started equal. We have to fight as a challenger.”
Particularly once they’re the champions. As a result of whereas the Galaxy celebrated its title by unfurling a championship banner earlier than Sunday’s recreation, afterward San Diego celebrated as if it had simply gained a closing by beating the champs.
Yoshida mentioned the group will both should get used to that or discover a solution to cease it. And the time for that’s brief. The Galaxy play Sunday in Vancouver earlier than opening CONCACAF Champions Cup play three days later, starting a rush of seven video games in not less than two international locations and three states in 27 days.
They’ll enter every a kind of video games with an enormous goal on their backs.
“This is a new challenge for us, how [much] they want to beat us,” Yoshida mentioned. “We have to be ready for this. We have to fight. We have to be better.”
As a result of as Christian Ramírez can attest, the MLS Cup Curse is actual.
⚽ You may have learn the newest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a highlight on distinctive tales. Take heed to Baxter on this week’s episode of the “Corner of the Galaxy” podcast.
