CARSON, Calif. (AP) — Greg Vanney returned to the LA Galaxy in hopes that he could restore them as one of the premier franchises in Major League Soccer.
The Galaxy could accomplish that Saturday in one of the biggest turnarounds in league history.
After finishing next-to-last in the Western Conference in 2023, the Galaxy host the New York Red Bulls in the MLS Cup final. A win would give LA a league-leading sixth championship and its first since 2014.
“This is the club where I got my start and retired. For me as a player this has been home and as coach I’m back because this is home," Vanney said Thursday. “I came back because I felt like I wanted the opportunity to help get this club back to the legacy of competing for championships.”
Vanney is in his fourth season as the Galaxy's coach after two stints as a player (1996-2001 and '08). He was in charge of Toronto FC for nearly seven seasons (2014 through 2020) and led them to two MLS Cup appearances, finally winning in 2018.
As a defender for the Galaxy, Vanney helped win a Supporters’ Shield, the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup and a U.S. Open Cup. He reached the MLS Cup final three times, including the league's inaugural 1996 season, but was winless.
“I’ve lost three before, so now the goal is to change the narrative and bring this club back to the top,” Vanney said.
The Galaxy — which was used to success during the days of David Beckham and Landon Donovan — had fallen from its perch as one of the league's signature franchise before this year.
Los Angeles Football Club, which entered the league in 2018, quickly became of the top MLS teams and won the title in 2022. Inter Miami FC then became the league's most recognizable franchise when it signed Lionel Messi. Ironically, Beckham was given to purchase an expansion franchise, which ended up being Miami, when he came to MLS and the Galaxy in 2007,
The Galaxy didn't reach the playoffs in two of Vanney's first three seasons in charge, including last year when a roster decimated by injuries finished 8-14-12, the worst mark in franchise history.
Vanney though didn't waver in his vision that improvements made behind the scenes would lead to future results.
“I’m proud of all the work that everybody has done over the years to help rebuild this club," Vanney said. "And when I say that, I mean from sports science, from the scouting, from every aspect that you need. When I sat down for the opportunity to get this job, I said in order to win a championship, nowadays in MLS, you have to have every piece of the infrastructure that is necessary to support a really good team. You can’t just have a good team and no infrastructure and win. It took us a couple years to get all the pieces of that really good team, and certainly we have gotten there, and this group fits together nicely.”
On the field, the additions of forwards Joseph Paintsil and Gabriel Pec as designated players have paid huge dividends. They replaced Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez and Douglas Costa, who had disappointing and injury-plagued tenures with the club.
Pec was selected the MLS Newcomer of the Year with 16 goals and 14 assists during the regular season, the fourth player in franchise history with at least 30 goal contributions. Pec, who also has three goals and two assists in four playoff games, put the Galaxy in the MLS Cup final with a goal in the 75th minute in the Western Conference final against Seattle.
Paintsil had 10 goals and 10 assists during the regular season.
Pec and Paintsil joined established playmakers Riqui Puig and Dejan Joveljic. The Galaxy had 69 goals during the regular season, which was the most in the West and third in MLS.
Puig, who had 13 goals and 15 assists in the regular season, will miss Saturday's final after suffering a torn ACL in his left knee in last Saturday's Western Conference final. He had four goals and four assists in the Galaxy’s four playoff matches.
“Last year it was a perfect storm of a lot of challenges within this group, and we managed through those. I always say we didn’t sacrifice last year for where we could be at the beginning of this year, and we took it on the chin last year," Vanney said. “But we held tight to the notion that we were going to have two open DP slots, and we needed to find the right guys to fit what we were trying to do and we knew there would be a couple other spaces that we would have to fill.”
The Galaxy were the second seed in the Western Conference, which gave them the right to host the final Saturday. They are 16-0-3 at Dignity Health Sports Park this season as they try to become the third straight team to win the championship after not making the playoffs the year before.
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