The Galaxy made history last season, winning a record sixth MLS Cup, going unbeaten in 21 matches at Dignity Health Sports Park and becoming the first team to have four players reach double digits in both goals and assists.
Less than a month into this season the team made history of a different sort by becoming the first reigning MLS champion to lose its first four games. Which brings us to Wednesday’s CONCACAF Champions Cup game with Herediano.
The Galaxy’s dominant 4-1 win won’t count in the MLS standings, but it certainly counts everywhere else. And by reversing a one-goal loss to Herediano last week in Costa Rica, Wednesday’s result gave the Galaxy a 4-2 aggregate-goal victory in the two-leg CONCACAF round-of-16 playoff, lifting the team into the quarterfinals of the confederation’s most prestigious club competition for the first time in a decade.
The team will face Mexican club Tigres, the 2020 tournament champion, in a two-game series next month.
But more importantly, the win showed the Galaxy may be ready to reverse the curse that has plagued them this season. And it was midfielder Isaiah Parente and defender Harbor Miller, who spent most of last season playing for Ventura County FC, who provided the spark, combining for three assists.
“No matter how we got that first win, the first one is always the hardest,” said forward Christian Ramirez, who came off the bench to score the final Galaxy goal.
The Galaxy’s start this year was as dismal as last season was brilliant. Nor only did they fail to win a game, but they also didn’t even lead in one. They lost on turf and natural grass. They lost at home and on the road. They lost in the U.S., Canada and Costa Rica, scoring just once and getting shut out three times. Three losses came in MLS play, equaling the team’s longest losing streak in five seasons.
Coach Greg Vanney made no excuses for his team’s abysmal start, but there were explanations. Five starters, including midfield motor Riqui Puig and winger Joseph Paintstil, two of last year’s leading scorers, are injured. Four others, including MLS Cup most valuable player Gaston Brugman and forward Dejan Joveljc, who scored a playoff-high six goals, had to be traded to get the team under the league’s tight salary cap.
Vanney can’t replace all of that offense, but in Parente and Miller he appears to have found two players who can help pick up the slack.
“Everybody stepped up. Everybody was given an opportunity,” Ramirez said. “That’s what a good team does when everybody’s called upon. Guys step up.”
Neither Parente nor Miller played more than 15 minutes in the first two losses but both have started the Galaxy’s last two games and the difference had been dramatic, with the team dominating both matches in time of possession, shots and shots on goal, showing signs it is about to wake from its slumber.
“Isaiah has certainly stepped in and given us some stability,” Vanney said of Parente, who has filled the double-pivot role in midfield. “That’s a really important position for us in the way we want to play.”
As for Miller, already hyper confident at 17, Vanney said “there’s not a situation that he feels like he can’t accomplish something in and and he goes for it. He understands what we’re trying to do. The rest for him is just execution in the moments, making good decisions, choosing the right the right pass.”
“He’s getting more confident, if that’s possible,” Vanney said of the defender, who replaced the injured Miki Yamane. “But he’s certainly settling in.”
Julian Aude gave the Galaxy their first lead of the season in he 30th minute Wednesday, one-timing a soft, one-bounce cross from Parente off the left post.
The assist was Parente’s first with the Galaxy and he got another before the first half ended, with Miguel Berry doubling the lead in the 38th minute after Parente set him up by playing a far-post cross from Tucker Lepley back into the center of the box.
That gave the Galaxy a 2-1 lead in aggregate goals in the two-game playoff but they didn’t stop there. Gabriel Pec, the Galaxy’s only healthy designated player, made it 3-0 eight minutes after the intermission, this time off an assist from Miller. And with a frustrated Herediano pushing for an away goal to get back in the playoff, Ramirez closed out the Galaxy against the run of play in the 76th minute.
Herediano salvaged a bit of pride eight minutes from the end of regulation time when José González headed in Haxzel Quirós’ corner from the center of the box. But that changed nothing other than the final score.
A Santa Ana native who grew up watching the Galaxy, Ramirez played for four MLS team and one in Scotland before coming back to Southern California in a trade last month. Getting his first goal in a Galaxy uniform was a big one, he said.
“I took my jersey and got it signed by everybody so it’s something that I’ll cherish forever,” said Ramirez, 33. “I wouldn’t have ever thought I would score for this club. Now that I’m here to get the first one, you could say it’s a dream come true.”
The Galaxy also got a big game out of goalkeeper John McCarthy, who was the team’s starter last season, winning his second MLS Cup in three seasons. But Vanney went with Novak Micovic in the first three regular-season games this year and Micovic was beaten a conference-worst seven times.
