The 2024 season saw the MLS Cup return to the league’s winningest franchise: the Los Angeles Galaxy.
After a nine-year title drought, the Galaxy put together one of the most dynamic and accomplished squads in league history and ultimately prevented the club’s fans from going double-digit seasons without seeing a title. The 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls at Dignity Health Park in Carson saw the Galaxy lift a record sixth MLS Cup, two more than second-place DC United’s four.
But the jubilation can only last for so long. The MLS Cup is notoriously difficult to defend; the last team to win two straight Cups was the Galaxy in 2011 and 2012, when the league looked much different and David Beckham still plied his trade in Los Angeles.
Part of what makes the MLS so exciting is its parity, enforced in a way that pretty much no other soccer league in the world does. That parity also meant that a highly accomplished Galaxy team couldn’t simply run it back with the same squad. Some players had to go, and key contributors at that.
Headlining that group was Serbian striker Dejan Joveljić, who had something of a breakout season in 2024, scoring 21 regular season goals before exploding in the playoffs with six goals and two assists within a five-game span, including the Galaxy’s essential second goal in the final. Jovelic was the essential finishing force supported by a host of creative players like midfielder Riqui Puig and Brazilian winger Gabriel Pec, who led the team in total goal contributions in the regular season with 19 goals and 15 assists in MLS play.
Joveljić made an intra-MLS move, landing at Sporting Kansas City for the 2025 season, where he won’t enjoy a similarly creative coterie of supporting players around him. Mark Delgado, a reliable workhorse of a midfielder, ended up making a crosstown move to Los Angeles Football Club, where he already started in the black and gold’s opening CONCACAF Champions Cup game (a 2-1 loss against the Colorado Rapids).
The club also had to move homegrown center back Jalen Neal, who was traded to the Montreal Impact for $650,000 in general allocation money in an effort to get under the salary cap and open up an international roster spot. As an academy product, fans were surely unhappy to see Neal go, as he was not just an LA native but also a potential rising star for the US men’s national team. Neal’s center back partner, the experienced Japanese international Maya Yoshida, also had to take a pay cut for the 2025 season to help the salary situation, to which Yoshida said, “That’s bullsh*t,” per the Los Angeles Times.
Yoshida’s ire wasn’t directed at his club so much as the league’s arcane and highly restrictive spending rules. In his extended critique, he pointed out that loose-pocketed clubs in China and the Middle East have been able to attract top-level players in the past decade due to their willingness to pay top-dollar transfer fees and salaries. “No money, no one comes,” he went on to say.
There was a lot of truth in Yoshida’s critique that will hopefully nudge the MLS office to reevaluate the financial limitations it puts on its clubs, but for the time being, the Galaxy will have to work with what it has.
And to be fair, the Galaxy still looks formidable, at least in attack. The magnificent three Ps of last season are all back: Puig, Pec and left winger Joseph Paintsil, who hit 15 goals and eight assists himself in all competitions last season. Puig unfortunately suffered a cruciate ligament injury in the Western Conference Final against Seattle that will leave him sidelined until midseason in 2025, but given the former Barcelona player is still just 25, he could easily bounce back to near-MVP-level form by the playoffs. In his absence, Borussia Dortmund legend Marco Reus will be expected to carry part of the team’s creative burden, after fans saw flashes of what he can still do at 34 years old with three assists in 11 appearances in last season’s home stretch.
Experienced Danish defender Mathias Jørgensen will offer cover for Neal at the back, bringing experience from the Premier League gained during his spell with Brentford and in European competitions with Belgian club Anderlecht and FC København in Denmark. And as always, John McCarthy cuts a confident figure in goal as an MLS stalwart.
The early season will likely arise in midfield in Puig’s absence. In addition to losing Delgado, the Galaxy traded Gastón Brugman, who won the MVP award in the final against New York Red Bulls, to Nashville SC. Sean Davis went the other way, landing in LA to help bridge the gap in midfield, but Davis is simply much less accomplished than Brugman — his “Scouting Report” and “Similar Players” section on FBref leave much to be desired. The Galaxy also signed the young Uruguayan midfielder Lucas Sanabria to hopefully fill Brugman’s boots, but with only 41 appearances under his belt in Uruguay’s top division, Sanabria might be a slow burn at MLS level.
Long story short: if experienced Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney can create stopgap solutions in Puig’s absence, the team will still pose a threat all season and might just hit its stride come the postseason. But is a repeat likely? Recent history says no, and the Galaxy’s current roster doesn’t offer enough to oppose that conclusion.
To open the season, the Galaxy will host MLS newcomers San Diego FC—the league’s latest expansion team—at Dignity Health Sports Park, hoping to get one over on a new Southern California rival. Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. on Sunday.
Predicted XI vs. San Diego: (4-2-3-1)
GK: McCarthy
DEF (left to right): John Nelson, Yoshida, Jørgensen, Miki Yamane
MID: Edwin Cerillo, Sanabria
ATT: Paintsil, Reus, Pec, Christian Ramírez
Predicted Western Conference finish: 5th