LAFC and LA Galaxy miss the playoffs

LAFC and LA Galaxy have struggled. 

By any account, they had the goal of making the playoffs and not making it is a disappointment.

LAFC didn't have the services of Carlos Vela for much of the season.

LA Galaxy had Chicharito missing due to injury for a segment of the season. 

I follow LA Galaxy much more closely and my sense is that the midfield was the weakest link. The movement of the ball when LAG went on offense seemed at times to get stuck in the midfield. And because the LAG have an aggressive approach by their right and left backs, the midfield has to help on defense and sometimes that didn't happen.

Chicharito, when healthy, did a lot. 

But the supporting cast for the front line, Cabral, Grandsir, and Joveljic, had moments but wasn't the consistent presence hoped for.  

As for the best center-back pairing?

Hard to say, between Williams, DePuy, Coulibaly, and Steres, who was the best pairing.

By the end, it seemed Williams and DePuy was the preferred pairing.

Will see what moves are made for the 2022 season.

LA Galaxy off season

The curtain fell on the LA Galaxy season in El Traffico VI. LAFC had been favored to win every match in the derby and finally broke through with a solid if messy 5-3 win.

Thus, LAFC march on in what is expected to be an MLS Cup. However, in the way is Seattle a past MLS Cup winner (2016) in the Western conference finals. If they win, they face the winner of the Eastern conference finals pitting Toronto (2017 MLS Cup winner) against Atlanta (2018 MLS Cup winner). All in all, the teams that have shown themselves to be top class the last few years.

LA Galaxy continue to retool after returning to the playoffs after missing the playoffs in 2017 and 2018. The defense really let them down on the semi-final match as it did many times during the season.

What is ahead for the front office?

DP decisions
1. Zlatan - He will be out of contract and rumors are for a return to Italy. However, the question is would Zlatan be willing to accept a smaller role on a contender or more playing time in a team less likely to to be a champion? He has expressed his displeasure at various aspects of MLS life (the referees, the lower quality supporting cast, the artificial turf at some venues, etc). On the other hand, he will get minutes on the LA Galaxy and the club provides him the kind of media exposure he clearly enjoys. Unless the front office has some other "big name" in mind to bring in as a DP, they will try to make a good faith offer to Zlatan and hope he declines so they can move on. 60:40 that Zlatan moves on.
News: Italy club interest might be less than expected. Rejoins AC Milan. 
2. JDS - He is still on contract and has been a key player and should continue to be central to plans for 2020.
News: JDS says he wants to finish his career with LAG. 
3. Alessandrini - He will be out of contract. However, he is a fan favorite, enjoys Los Angeles, and has contributed when healthy. Given his injury history, another DP contract is unlikely but some kind of deal could be made to keep him at a more modest salary level. 70:30 he stays on a reduced contract.
News: Out of contract, will he get a new deal? I think so at reduced salary

Defensive woes
4. Steres - Arguable the best value defender on the club. Good stats on a modest salary and a domestic player. The kind of player any MLS club would want to have around either as a starter or frequently rotated in player. 80:20 that he stays with a raise.
News: Out of contract, will he get a new deal? I think so at increased salary
News: He has a new contract.
5. Polenta - He was voted best defender of the year for the club but he has had some games where he was in the spotlight for what went wrong. Am guessing he is under contract and will be staying.
News: CoG MLS experts say Polenta might be a question mark about returning.
Option declined.
6. Feltscher - Had some good moments but not enough. He will probably be gone.
News: Option exercised.

7. Skjelvik - Had too many bad moments and saw minutes slashed over time. He will probably be gone.

News: Under contract! Unexpected that his original contract was 3-years. Perhaps, he will be traded to Europe.

8. Gonzalez - Am guessing he is under contract and will be staying. He has struggled in many games and maybe rated at this point as the poorest signing by the new front office. However, in fairness to him, he was played out of position on a number of occasions.
News: CoG MLS experts say Gonzales might be returning because his contract situation might be more secure than Polenta.
9.  Romney - A solid defender who can play multiple positions and a domestic player and won't break the salary bank. Romney has value on LAG as well as any other MLS club who need to have some domestic players to fill out the roster. The problem for Steres and Romney is that they are better at center-back than wide back positions. Wide back is a position of need for LAG with the likely departures of Feltscher and Skjelvik. Polenta and Gonzalez are center-backs and under contract thus making Steres and Romney as rotation players though Steres wound up starting quite a bit; thus, am thinking Romney moves on.
News: Romney to Nashville.  
10. Bingham - decent goalkeeper, not top of the line but solid

News: Under contract.

Latin American connections
10. Antuna - He had enough success that he will almost certainly be seeking greener pastures.
News: He is going to Chivas Guadalajara.
11. Favio Alvarez - Didn't have as much impact as Antuna so am figuring there might not be as much interest to draw him away from LAG. Probably will stay.
News: He was on loan and LAG may decline the option to renew. Option declined.
12. Pavon - He was a hit and will mostly likely get a DP level contract. Don't think he has done enough over a long enough period of time to draw big dollar interest from higher level leagues. A huge 2020 season could make his price go up and he will move on in 2021.
News: He is back at DP level as expected. 

The role players
13. Joe Corona - Probably under contract so should be staying.
News: Remains on contract.
14. Sebastian Lletget - Good to see him recovered from injury and have a good season. Don't know contract status but a solid non-DP level player with USMNT possibilities so LAG probably will want to keep around.
News: New contract with a raise.
15. Chris Pontius - solid veteran player for the bench and squad rotation but may want more playing time elsewhere.
News: Pontius has announced he will retire.
16. Perry Kitchen - Don't know contact status. Didn't get a lot of minutes due to injury. May want more playing time elsewhere.
News: Remains on contract.
17. Servando Carrasco - Good role player at a budget but at his age he might want to call it a career.
News: Option not exercised.
18, Matt Lampson - solid backup goalkeeper
News: Option not exercised.
19.  Justin Vom Steeg - solid young goalkeeper with possible future
News: Option exercised.

The youngsters
20. Julian Araujo - He is a wide back with lots of upside but not ready to be a routine starter at right back.
21. Efrain Alvarez - Mid-fielder with lots of upside but not not ready to be a routine starter.
22. Diedie Traore - Wide back back with lots of upside but not ready to be a routine starter at left back.
23. Emil Cuello - Mid-fielder with some upside but not not ready to be a routine bench player and occasional starter.
News: Option exercised.

Your best one-stop shop for the latest rumors and moves by LA Galaxy is Corner of the Galaxy Rumor Tracker.

The team sheet on the final match of the season (Conference semi-final against LAFC:
Bold face are players on the roster 
Italics are players in negotiation where it is anticipated they will return  
Regular typeface indicates that are gone for sure or very likely not returning 

1. Ibrahimovic = out of contract, at AC Milan
2. Pavon = re-signed at DP level
3. Lletget = re-signed at TAM level
4. Antuna = off to Chivas Guadalajara 
5. dos Santos = remains on contract
6. Kitchen = remains on contract
7. Romney = traded to Nashville 
8. Polenta = out of contract, option declined
9. Steres = out of contract in negotiation new contract
10. Gonzalez = remains on contract
11. Bingham = remains on contract 
12. Lampson = option declined
13. Feltscher = option exercised
14. Alessandrini = out of contract in negotiation
15. Carrasco =  option declined
16. Corona = remains on contract
17. Alvarez = loan expired, option declined
    
18. Pontius = retired

As you can see, of the final team sheet of 18 players, only 8 are back with 2 probably back if deals can be negotiated, and 8 not returning. It is going to be yet another rebuilding year for the LA Galaxy in 2020!

NEWS: Additions to the team
Sacha Kljestan - the 34 year old midfielder will add some depth to the squad 
Emilian Insua - 30 year old defender from Argentina recently playing in Germany
Aleksandar Katai - 28 year old Serbian midfielder recently at Chicago Fire

Heading into the October international break

LA Galaxy have dropped two in a row and in both cases their defense was the culprit. As a result, they go into the MLS playoffs in fifth place. Which team will show up? The team that took three straight wins or the one that then gave up two straight losses? As it is, they could get bounced in the first round or make a run all the way to the finals!

Meanwhile, their crosstown rivals LAFC are on the top of the standings and the odds on favorite (53% according to 538) to win the whole thing. They have the most points ever with 72 and Vela has the single season goal scoring record with 34.

In the Swedish top league, the race for the championship is close among the big city clubs Malmo and the three Stockholm teams (Djurgardens, Hammarby, and AIK).

My family teams Elfborg and Falkenberg have their goals. Elfborg is in eighth and realistically the gap to seventh is too far. However, they could slip down so finishing eighth would be satisfying at this stage. As for Falkenberg, avoiding outright relegation is the goal. They have 19 points in 15th place. They are close enough to Sundsvall (20 points) to move up into the playoff relegation spot.

Over in England, Liverpool is off to a 8-0-0 start outpacing traditional top dog Man City and venerable top-6 Arsenal. Leicester City and Crystal Place are surprise top-6 right now. Chelsea sit in 5th. Shockingly, typical top-6 Man U is 12th and Tottenham is 9th. LFC's eight wins include some nervey one goal wins. Will this be the year they finally win a EPL championship after so many decades?

Defending the Champions League title would be a bonus but having gotten it last year I think they would not be too disappointment if they don't win it again. However, I think they would like to at least get out of group stage. Thus far Liverpool's champions league performances have been shaky with a loss to Napoli and a too close for comfort win against Salzburg.

QPR is doing stunningly well! They are ninth! However, will they be able to hold it together in the marathon 46 game season that is the Championship. They only have one draw as they give up goals but score them as well. They have managed to come out on top more than not.

Wide World of Soccer February 2019 - the six teams I follow

Time for the expectations round up!

QPR and Liverpool are now in the second half of their seasons.

QPR is constrained by the FFP sanctions so I had forecasted: "At the low end for QPR is the practical goal of AVOIDING relegation [.....] There are 24 teams in the Championship so the bottom half is 13-24 and the upper half of that is 13-18. If they get to 18, they should throw a parade around Loftus Road!"

QPR stands at 18th but have been on a losing streak of late. They are 10 points clear of the relegation zone but the Championship season is 46 matches. Come on you R's, you gotta stay in the Championship!

As for Liverpool FC, my forecast: "a lively race for the title (win or lose) would be wonderful for the long disappointed Liverpool fans. Winning a title of any kind would be nice as well (League Cup, FA Cup, Champions League, or Premier League)."

They are in a close contest with Man City and Tottenham. They crashed out of FA and League Cup. Tonight, they play in leg one of the Champions League against the mighty Bayern Munich! Can they bring home Premier League title? Can they win the European Cup? It is going to be tough as injuries have started to deplete the team. But I'm calling for them to win the Premier League! 

As for the other four clubs:

Falkenberg - They got promoted to the top league! The goal is to stay in the top league!

Elfsborg is in trouble. They finished 12th just 4 points out of the relegation zone. Hard to keep track of the club via English language media. But the expectations of the venerable old club is low at avoiding relegation. They have always punched above their weight considering that their home town of Boras (pop. 66K) is small compared to the big boys in Stockholm (960K), Gothenburg (572K), and Malmo (312K) so they really should be a solid mid-table team (7-10 place) occasionally challenging for European play.

LAFC is an expansion club with a high ceiling and they are living up to it! Last season they got bounced in the knockout round of the playoffs. This season the minimal expectations has to be one playoff win and perhaps even making it to the conference finals (2 playoff wins). They finished 3rd last year so they need to move up to at least 2nd for the season to be considered a success.

LA Galaxy finished last season in seventh place out of the playoffs. Thus, this season they need to make the playoffs and win at least one game. Finishing 4th in the table would be a reasonable goal. There are a lot of question marks for this team as it is largely the same as last year's team plus/minus a couple of players. The key additions are Polenta (centerback) and Antuna (speedy midfield wing) and if they live up to their billing the Galaxy could be competitive in every game. Zlatan is another year older. Will he continue to be a force to be reckoned with? As for the rest of the team, will the pieces fit together and they stay healthy in particular the rather thin defensive line.

Expectations: FFF, Elfsborg, Liverpool FC, QPR, LA Galaxy, LAFC

Time for the expectations round up!

Starting up their seasons are QPR and Liverpool FC.

At the low end for QPR is the practical goal of AVOIDING relegation. Given their financial limits due to FFP fines, they aren't going to be bringing in pricey players or even non-pricy players. They will need to make do with their in-house talent of which there are some promising young ones. So if they stay up in the Championship, the season would have to be called a success!

If the young players bloom, the high end of the expectations would be to finish in the upper half of the bottom half. There are 24 teams in the Championship so the bottom half is 13-24 and the upper half of that is 13-18. If they get to 18, they should throw a parade around Loftus Road!

As for Liverpool FC, after all the big spending, the low end is closing in on the high end of expectations. Man City is still the biggest fish among the big six and remains the favorite to win the Premier League. Thus, a lively race for the title (win or lose) would be wonderful for the long disappointed Liverpool fans. Winning a title of any kind would be nice as well (League Cup, FA Cup, Champions League, or Premier League). The only cup that would be considered a disappointment would be Europa League Cup because that would mean the team crashed out of the group stage in Champions League!

For teams nearing the end of the season that I follow:

Falkenberg - they are one the brink of pulling off automatic promotion back to the top league! They have 11 games to go and eight points ahead of third place Eskilstuna that would qualify for the promotion playoff. Promotion or bust!

Elfsborg is in trouble. 13 games to go and they are in 13th place. 14th place leaves them in relegation playoffs and 15/16th place is automatic relegation. In summer business, they did extend some people (Frick, Kaib, Ronning, Dresevic) but they did sell on (Jebali, Horn) and added (Obasi, Holst). Their defense isn't bad as there are plenty of teams that give up more goals but their offense is anemic with a paltry 15 goals, second worst in the league.

LAFC is an expansion club with a high ceiling and they are living up to it! They are solidly in the playoffs (3rd place in the west) and are aiming for seeding. Winning the west is not impossible but second is within reach. Aiming very high would be a MLS Cup final appearance. More likely is an appearance in the western conference finals. 

LA Galaxy has been playing better but have been hit with the injury bug (all three DPs are out!) and are a question mark. Their near term goal is to stay afloat. Currently 4th in the west, they need to hang on while the DPs recover. Six teams make the playoffs per conference so finishing 6th is the goal. Hopefully, the DPs come back late in the season and they can get back into form and pull of a surprise and reach the western conference semi-finals.

LAFC 2 LAG 2 in match #2 of El Trafico

MLS put out this video to recap the drama leading to the first match and highlights from the match itself.


MLS | El Trafico - Chapter 01 from EVO Films USA on Vimeo.

Here is the highlight package from last night's match.

LAG managed to "steal" a draw.

Down 2-0, they removed Cole, a defender, and added Pontius, an attacker. They also took out Kitchen, the defensive midfielder, and put in Lleget a more offensive minded midfielder. LAG went all in to equalize.

The Galaxy brain trust has a lot to think about. In both matches, LAG was over-run in the first half. They spent lots of money for defense and against fast teams like LAFC they can't keep up. In the end, LAG has go into offense mode and open things up and hope to outscore the opponent. Against weaker opposition that works. But against the top tier that will probably not end well. LAFC is still a work in progress and eventually they will get to the point where the 2-0 lead will be enough and they will make LAG pay when they go all in to equalize.

So what does LAG do going forward?

For some teams, they could afford to play the slightly more defensive minded 3-5-2 version they started with against LAFC. However, what do they do against a team that might carve up the LAG backline? Do they go with the more offense minded 3-5-2 of the second half against LAFC?

Wide World of Soccer - weekend April 28-29

Liverpool FC 0 Stoke City 0. Nuff said.

High drama on Wednesday for leg 2 against Roma. 5-2 lead looks good but Barcelona collapsed to Roma and were eliminated so Roma is not to be underestimated.

QPR takes care of business with a 3-1 win over bottom of the table Birmingham City.

LA Galaxy woes continue coming out on the short end 2-3 to NY Red Bulls. A couple of questionable calls went against LA Galaxy that took a goal off the LA tally and added a PK that was the Red Bull's winner.

LA Galaxy got some more offense but unfortunately their defense cost them.  One of the MLS analyst says that LA's 4-3-3 might be better for them. I speculated about that possibility back on April 13 though at that time I didn't anticipate Zlatan would start which he did.

LAFC in dramatic fashion defeat Seattle 1-0 with a stoppage time free kick!

Elfsborg falls 2-1 to Sundsvall.

Falkenberg plays on Tuesday on the road at Halmstad.

Wide world of soccer: weekend of April 21/22 2018

Hats off to LAFC for rallying from a 2-0 deficit to beat Montreal on the road. If you had said that LAFC would get 4 wins against 2 losses to open season entirely on the road, fans would take it. They have their home opener next weekend.

Liverpool was on the road at West Bromwich cruising with a 2-0 lead only to surrender 2 goals late. The problems of defense reared its head once again!



QPR lost to Brentford 2-1. Not surprising for a road game at a team at the top half of the table.


LA Galaxy fall at home to Atlanta 2-0. Saw the second half of the match on TV. Atlanta had the lead so they were probably not as aggressive on offense. Nonetheless, it seemed they were always more threatening to score while LAG only got weak "half" chances at goal. LAG simply looked inferior to Atlanta.

Falkenberg (FFF) is off to a 4 game win streak with a 3-1 victory over Frej Taby.

Elfsborg plays Monday against Stockholm based Djurgarden.

Wide world of Soccer - how the six clubs I follow did

Friday April 13
LAFC beat Vancouver 2-0 on the road
LAFC bounced back from two prior defeats and continue to show the acumen of signing Rossi and Vela who got the goals in the victory.

Saturday April 14
Liverpool defeated Bournemouth 3-0
The three headed front line get a goal apiece in a taking care of business win.

Elfsborg downed by Sirius 1-0 at home
That is now three straight losses for the boys from Boras but no time to panic yet as there are still 27 more matches. For historical context, Elfsborg have been in the top league since 1998. From that time onward, they won the league in 2006 and 2012. They finished second in 2008. They won the Svenska Cup in 2001, 2003 and 2014. Hopefully, they can get their season going real soon!

QPR lost at home to Preston 2-1
Preston is higher up in the table so a loss isn't too surprising.

Chicago 0 LA Galaxy 1
Zlatan has appeared in 3 games and now has 2 game winning goals! Wound up watching the match on the phone via the live stream on Twitter for the first half and then the LA Galaxy audio stream for the second half. With the crazy wind, LAG had the wind with the in the first half and Chicago had the wind with them in the second half. The much maligned (and often with good reason) defense and goalkeeper came through a steady steam of attempts by Chicago in the second half.

Sunday April 15
GAIS 0 Falkenberg 2
The team by the sea have started off with 3 wins!

The weekend in soccer

Saturday started with the Merseyside Derby.

Everton v. Liverpool 0-0 (draw) 

The Reds with an eye toward the second leg of the Champions League semi-final played a weakened side so a draw was a reasonable outcome.

Hull v. QPR 4-0 (loss)

Ugh. QPR isn't a top level team so don't expect them to win all the time but they are usually at least competitive and they weren't today.

Falkenberg v. Eskilstuna 2-0 (win)

Off to a good start with two wins. Can they keep it up and get back to the top tier? "Laget vid havet!"

Atlanta v. LAFC 5-0 (loss)

Did the stunning loss against LA Galaxy last weekend leave the team still out of sorts? Or perhaps Atlanta is simply too much for LAFC to deal with? In either case, Bob Bradley and the brain trust will need to look at their situation after the glossy start.

Sunday provided two matches for me to follow

Kalmar v. Elfborg 1-0 (loss)

Ooofff .... off to a bad start with two losses. 28 matches to go. Hopefully, they will get their feet under them soon!

LA Galaxy v. Sporting Kansas City 0-2 (loss)

SKC dominated possession of the ball in the first half but LAG defense was up to the challenge for much of the time in the first half. But there was one bad patch early in the second half when LAG surrendered two goals. Those were not outrageous world class goals. However, they were clinical finishes to the opportunities granted by some poor defending from LAG.

The first goal was off a weak clearance off a corner kick that got pounced on by SKC.

The second goal was essentially a 1-against-3. Give the guy credit for taking it to the LAG defenders Steres and Cole and after ditching them, he got it past the goalkeeper Bingham. Any one of Steres, Cole, or Bingham could have prevented that goal but none did rise to that occasion.

LAG had shots of which three hit the woodwork. Jonathan Dos Santos and Romain Alessandrini were back in the line-up but did seem a little rusty: pace and passing was just a little off.

The defensive group does seem a bit slow and teams that have speed will cause problems for LAG. Cole is astute but his 37 year old legs sometimes let him down. Skjelvik looks promising and don't recall him getting overwhelmed against SKC but he clearly got outpaced on goal #3 that LAFC scored. Steres has the physical tools (he made a couple of good tackles against SKC) but over his time at LAG errors seem to crop up. Perhaps it is focus and decision making that will improve with experience? Feltscher seems to be settling in but am concerned that without smart positioning and situational awareness he might not have the speed to catch up if he gets up too far forward on the attack. Kitchen has been very helpful to the defense but it seems the sum of the parts haven't gotten to where LAG needs to be to be consistently competitive.

Meanwhile, the Zlatan phenomena continues but no Hollywood ending tonight. He got in for about 30 minutes and put some shots on goal with one or two of the chances that got the crowd hopeful.

From the General Admission side of the stadium, it was hard to tell how good were his shots on goal. Judging from video replays I saw after the game, two of them looked like good efforts that if the goalkeeper has shut-off for a moment would have yielded a goal.

Sigi and company have a lot to chew over.

Defending put them in a three-goal deficit against LAFC and a two-goal deficit against SKC. Don't see Ciani or Romney as a better option than what they have out there now. So they may simply have to live with what they have. Do wonder how much upside does youngsters Hilliard-Arce and Arellano have?

As LAG offensive players advance in fitness returning from injury, it will be interesting to see which players will get the minutes upcoming and whether they will stick to the 4-2-3-1 formation - probably. It seems that when Zlatan is in they switch to 4-4-2. Will he go on the road to Chicago? And how many minutes will he get?

Tough loss that could easily have been a draw. No time to panic as the team is still a work in progress with the arrow facing in the up direction.

Wide world of soccer - LA Galaxy v LAFC

Complete craziness!

IN any language, exciting ....... video compilation of the Zlatan goal call from announcers from around the world!

LAFC made LA Galaxy defenders look like they had concrete shoes on and bang, 3-0 lead!

But the LA Galaxy woke up in the second half and LAFC started to get a little tight.

3-1, with the Lleget goal. Good to see him on the way to full force after so many months of rehab from his foot surgery that could have been career ending.

Zlatan comes into the game!

Boateng crosses and Pontius scores on a diving header, 3-2.

Free kick by LAFC goal keeper and Steres heads it upfield. Zlatan sees that the LAFC goalie is too far from his goal and the properly gauges the flight of the header and on the bounce strikes a swerving shot into the goal, 3-3!

LAFC realizes they could lose this thing and they wake up and start to attack and get shot that hits the post.

As the game appears to be winding down to a draw, LAG pushes forward as the ball goes toward the open space to the right of the goal box and Cole, 37, tracks it down and hits a cross into the box and Zlatan, 36, out jumps everyone to head the ball into the goal, 4-3!

###

LA Galaxy were one of the "originals" when MLS started in 1996. Soccer was still on the periphery of most sports fans including myself back then.

David Beckham arrived in 2007 and the LA Galaxy and MLS began to get a bit more attention. I would check in on their progress on and off but mostly off. I did make it to one Galaxy game when both Beckham and Donovan were on the field.

It would not be until 2010 that I would follow the club more routinely. The Landon Donovan late game goal against Algeria in the World Cup pushed me into soccer fandom!

Got pretty spoiled as the LA Galaxy won 3 MLS Cups between 2010-2014 in 4 MLS Cup final appearances.

After that great run, the team model of relying on 30+ y/o European stars began to run into trouble as Robby Keane and Steven Gerrard just couldn't stay healthy enough to make a difference and so the LA Galaxy flamed out in the playoffs in 2015 and 2016.

2017 was a dumpster fire as the team went toward a youth movement and some of their veteran players got hurt or just didn't play well resulted in the team finishing with the worst record in MLS.

With the launching of LAFC in 2018, it was tempting to "jump ship" but I decided to stick with the LA Galaxy as it is pretty hard to change clubs once you have some history of rooting for them.

No hard feelings about LAFC. It is good for the sport and the city to have a solid rival in town. In a face-to-face match, I have my team to root for. In other situations, I'll check in on how they are doing and wish them well. This is how I think of the Angels (I am a Dodger fan) and the Clippers (I am a Laker fan). I happily rooted for the Angels the year they beat the Giants to win the World Series!

LAFC has definitely gotten off to a great start and the LA Galaxy could learn from them about scouting for talent in Latin America.

The world of LA soccer

It is an exciting time for soccer in Los Angeles with the spectacular start of LAFC and the arrival of Zlatan, hashtag #zLAtan. His signing with trumpeted with a simple yet over-the-top one page ad in the LA Times.

The marketing minions of the LA Galaxy have trotted out this promo video!

Have been a follower of the LA Galaxy on and off and mostly on since 2010. The club definitely goes for the off-the-field sizzle and has produced a lot of on-the-field steak (5 MLS cups). We shall see how this pans out.

I was excited about the Steven Gerrard move to LAG but it soon became apparent that he had reached a point in his career that he was too injury prone and so the on-the-field performance didn't live up to the hype.

Below is a video of some highlights from his career and so if he can stay healthy and do 1/2 of what he did in his prime, he will have an impact!

In financial terms, it was a pretty reasonable move considering it is only for $3 million over 2 years.

In practical terms, what is the starting XI going to look like?

In the near term, the defense is not going to change with the possible exception that the injury to Ciani might keep him out of the line up for more than month.

Previously, the "ideal" plan had Kitchen and JDS as defensive midfielders with Alessandrini, GDS, and Lletget as attacking midfielders and Kamara as the lone striker. Injuries have already rendered that plan "inoperative" for the next match or three.

For instance, in tonight's match against Vancouver, it is likely that Kitchen, JDS, GDS, and Allesandrini will be unavailable due to injury and Kamara is out for international duty. But if we take an optimistic view that all will return eventually, who ultimately gives up a starting spot to Zlatan?

If GDS lives up to his full potential, then Lletget is the odd-man out?

I would imagine Zlatan will be a 60 minute starter at most unless it is very clear he is fully recovered from his injuries. In some other scenarios, he might be a final 20 minute substitute.

Interesting times for the LA Galaxy.

Meanwhile, LAFC has taken the path of finding talent from Central (Carlos Vela) and South America (Diego Rossi).

And so after two matches, the talent scouts at LAFC have to be pleased.

Check out the 5 goal blitz they put on Real Salt Lake in the video below.

Historic day for LA Soccer!

There are, once again, two soccer teams in Los Angeles!

Seattle 0 LAFC 1

Click here for the video highlights.

LAFC's first match as a club and they got the win. Diego Rossi the 20 year old young phenom from Uruguay got the pass from Carlos Vela, the DP from Mexico, and fired the shot into the goal!

Meanwhile, LA Galaxy aim to put behind the dreadful 2017 season.

LA Galaxy 2 Portland Timbers 1

Click here for the video highlights.

Ola Kamara was signed to get goals from the striker spot and he delivered at 32 minutes. Allesandrini got the second in short order at 34 minutes. LA defense held on just giving up one goal.

When I started following LA Galaxy routinely (2010), the stadium was shared with Chivas USA. However, at that time Chivas USA was already in bad shape and eventually went under after the 2014 season. Will be interesting to see if the front office at LAFC will do a better job. So far, they have made a lot of good moves: new stadium, top notch manager in Bob Bradley, and a good mix of young and older players in the roster. Will see how big a rivalry will form between the two teams!

What are the realistic expectations for the two teams?

LAFC as an expansion club probably would view playoff qualification as the high end of expectations. Atlanta United did that last season and Bob Bradley led the Chicago Fire to the MLS Cup in 1998. Back then there were only 12 teams, now there are 23 teams! Realistically, finishing just out of the playoffs at seventh or eighth would be quite an accomplishment.

As for the LA Galaxy, realistic expectations are playoff qualifications and at the high end finishing in the top three of the western conference.

Market Value of Players and Clubs

It is very hard to compare soccer clubs from different leagues and by extension players in one league versus players in another league.

In continental competitions, there can be some indicators of relative strength. For instance, the top Spanish teams have dominated European Champions League so they are regarded as the strongest. However, how does the 3rd and 4th place Spanish League teams compare to the top 4 in other leagues? Head-to-head competition gives clues but it is hard to be sure. Anyway, it is this concept that drives the "UEFA club coefficients" which is the soccer analog to NCAA basketball's RPI. From those stats, one can see that the 3rd and 4th place Spanish league teams compare very favorably to the rest of Europe.

But when you get beyond the handful of top teams in the top leagues, it gets harder to compare. And it is even tougher to compare MLS in the USA relative to what is happening in Europe.

One attempt to rate strength is "market value" of players and clubs. Using the wisdom of the crowd the German web page TransferMarkt.com rates teams and players.

What I've done is do screen captures of the top 11 players of an assortment of clubs. Note the "market value" of the players listed are in Euros and they do not correspond to their actual salaries. Rather it is a rating of how much the player might gain in an open market sale of his services.

Here are the numbers for Brentford FC, a mid-table club in the English Championship (2nd tier).

Here are the numbers for Elfsborg IF, a mid-table and sometime competitor for the top part of the top league in Sweden (Allsvenskan).

Here are the numbers for LAFC, a new club in MLS in the USA.

Here are the numbers for LA Galaxy, the established MLS club in Los Angeles.

Finally, here are the numbers for Rosenborg BK, the top club in the Norwegian league (Eliteserien).

A few observations about the numbers from these 5 clubs:

LAFC and LA Galaxy have some very high market value players.

Once you get past the highest market value players (the top 2 or 3) in the two MLS clubs, the market value of the players are somewhere between Rosenborg and Elfsborg.

In fact, the 11th ranked player on Rosenborg's roster has a market value that would be 4th highest on LAFC and 6th highest at LA Galaxy.

The highest market value player at Elfsborg would be 3rd highest at LAFC and 6th highest at LA Galaxy.

Rosenborg has consistently higher market values across its top 11 compared to Elfsborg.

Brentford has very consistently high market values across all 11 players compared to the other four clubs in this discussion.

Based on market value, who would win on the field?

Brentford across its top 11 has higher market value players. However, LA Galaxy and LAFC have one or two specific players that have higher market value than any Brentford player. Since soccer is a team sport you would think Brentford would win.

Based on market value, you would think Rosenborg would beat Elfsborg. 

The comparison is most difficult in regards to how LA Galaxy and LAFC would compare to the other three. LA Galaxy and LAFC have one or two players that are stronger than any of the players at the other three clubs. But players 2-11 or 4-11are somewhere between Rosenborg and Elfsborg. 

In a group stage of LAFC, LA Galaxy, Rosenborg and Elfsborg, who would win?

And in a best of five match up against Brentford, how would LAFC and LA Galaxy do?

Where the two LA soccer teams are at in roster construction ........

The LAFC roster as of 1/23/2018

At the Designated Player level:
Carlos Vela - F
Diego Rossi - F

From a loan:
Omar Graber - M
Rodrigo Pacheco - F
Aaron Kovar - M

Drafts and Deals:
Latif Blessing - F
Laurent Ciman - D
Tyler Miller - G
Marco Urena - F
Walker Zimmerman - D
Jordan Harvey - D
Benny Feilhaber - M
Calum Wallace - M

The LA Galaxy depth-chart as of 1/5/2018

Goalkeeper

1. Need a serious #1 keeper - Deal maybe for Bingham? (12/15/17) 
2. Need a #2 keeper with at least some experience
3. Pick up a youngster with potential?

Defense

1. Ashley Cole - expiring contract but should try to extend - Cole is back (1/4/18)
2. Jurgen Skjelvik is official - he can play left-back and center-back
3. Michael Ciani - rumors he might be on the way out?
4. Need an actual right-back! Rolf Feltscher signed (12/19/17) 
5. Daniel Steres
6. Pick up a veteran defender for squad rotation and backup?
7. Dave Romney
8. Hugo Arellano

Midfield

1. Romain Alessandrini
2. Jonathan dos Santos 
3. Sebastian Lletget
4. Emmanuel Boateng
5. Joao Pedro
6. Baggio Husidic - expiring contract but should try to extend - Baggio is back (1/4/18)
7. Pick up a young player with potential? Servando Carrasco - not exactly young but I guess he adds some depth to the club as he has got MLS games and minutes under his belt (12/21/17)
8. Pick up a young player with potential?

Forward

1. Giovani dos Santos
2. Need a ready for prime time forward who can start
3. Pick up a veteran forward who could be a super sub a la Alan Gordon
4. Bradford Jamieson - a developmental project with good potential
5. Ariel Lassiter - a developmental project with good potential

LAFC builds out its roster

Nine. Nine on the roster as of 12/16/17.

At the Designated Player level:
Carlos Vela
Diego Rossi

From a loan:
Omar Graber
Rodrigo Pacheco

Drafts and Deals:
Latif Blessing
Laurent Ciman
Tyler Miller
Marco Urena
Walker Zimmerman

And so it begins: LAFC signs first designated player

Next MLS season, LAFC joins the league.

A few weeks ago, they named Bob Bradley as their coach. If you are new to soccer, you should know he was most notably the US Men's National Team (USMNT) coach from 2006-2011. His resume is long with various stops at MLS clubs prior to his USMNT gig. He followed his USMNT tenure with some globe trotting to leading the Egyptian national team, club managerial posts in Norway, France, and England.

Now, according to Kevin Baxter, LAFC has put down the first piece of the foundation of their team by signing a top Mexico national team member and La Liga club player Carlos Vela.

First Bradley now Vela. #LAFC is on a roll https://t.co/T2aG38TSP4

— Kevin Baxter (@kbaxter11) August 9, 2017

Time will tell what LAFC puts together but the opportunity for them is great as their in-city rivals LA Galaxy are in the midst of a meltdown season.