What Went Wrong: Galaxy Looking Forward After Winning Supporters Shield
What went right: Despite a disappointing Western Conference Final loss to FC Dallas, the Los Angeles Galaxy still finished the regular season with the best record in Major League Soccer to win the Supporters Shield despite losing Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle to World Cup duty for a month and not getting a single minute from David Beckham until the season's final month, when he returned from a Achilles tear. A record start to the season and first round playoff series win add on to that Supporters Shield (which also guarantees LA a spot in the group stage of next year's CONCACAF Champions League) and along with the stellar play of the known quantities (Donovan, Buddle, Ricketts), LA saw several young players play very well and develop in Omar Gonzalez, Sean Franklin, AJ DeLaGarza, Michael Stephens and Tristan Bowen.
What went wrong:After their dominating first round playoff series win, Los Angeles became the heavy favorite to win the MLS Cup, but it all came to a crashing halt when Dallas scored the opening goal in the Western Conference Final. From that point on it was all Dallas and Los Angeles looked befuddled to bring the season to a disappointing end. Being absolutely dominated by USSF Division 2 side Puerto Rico in the CONCACAF Champions League playoff round was an utter disappointment as well.
What we learned: The young guys that Los Angeles have can really play. Gonzalez, Franklin and DeLaGarza all took steps forward in what was their second or third season in the league and give the Galaxy a lot to look forward to as they will make up ¾ of the defense in coming seasons. Stephens showed a lot of promise early in the season and despite fading in the second half as he picked up some knee trouble, he showed in his rookie season that he can play well in the midfield, while the youngster Bowen continued his development and is an intriguing option either at forward or at winger. Oh yeah, the big names are also really good, but that wasn't anything new.
Where we go from here:
The first order of business for LA will be to figure out Donovan’s situation. Despite saying that he would be back with the Galaxy next year, there are legitimate questions about whether or not he makes the move to the English Premier League. After that the Galaxy will have to sort out the rumors of Ronaldinho joining the team or some other Designated Player. Most important though will be finding another central midfield option. All season long, Los Angeles relied on Juninho to play great or be dominated in the center. Juninho looks likely to return to Los Angeles next year, but Bruce Arena needs to find some more help in the central midfield or risk being exposed when the Brazilian isn’t at top form.
Core 11 (players who should be protected):Donovan, Beckham and Buddle are all clearly central to nearly everything that Los Angeles does and while Ricketts has major issues communicating with his back line, he still won Goalkeeper of the Year. The young group, Gonzalez, DeLaGarza, Franklin and Stephens will all definitely be fixtures of the team for a while and Juninho should return for at least one more season. Todd Dunivant showed no signs of aging and left backs aren't easy to come by, while Los Angeles will have to retain either Dema Kovalenko or Birchall, likely the younger and more consistent one, Birchall. Bowen will not have to be protected in the expansion draft because he is a homegrown player.
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