CARSON, Calif. -- The LA Galaxy won back-to-back MLS Cup titles while playing a direct, counter-attacking style fueled by David Beckham's ability to deliver majestic service from nearly any spot on the field.
His departure following the 2012 triumph meant things had to change, and the Galaxy -- after giving the reins to their Brazilian central midfielders and bringing in the right talent -- have quickly evolved into a possession side that, when they're on top of their game, plays some of the finest soccer MLS has ever seen.
And this Galaxy side is on top of its game more often than not.
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“You have to have the players to be able to possess then ball consistently and make chances that way and for a few years, we didn't have that,” Landon Donovan said. “Now we've developed players that can do that, and we've brought in players that can help us do that.
“The beauty of our team now is we like to have the ball a lot, we like to create chances, we like to put pressure on teams. But if we get into a situation where we need to defend for long stretches, we still have that in our DNA. And our ability to counterattack is never going to go away.”
The reward could be a third MLS championship in four years. The Galaxy head to Seattle for Sunday's second leg of the Western Conference Championship holding onto a 1-0 lead and brimming with confidence after outplaying the Sounders in two regular-season games at CenturyLink Field -- one a blowout win, the other a late defeat -- and they would be favored at home in the Dec. 7 MLS Cup title game against the New England Revolution or New York Red Bulls.
It took LA a season and a half to find the right rhythm, the right chemistry, and their palette broadened with a conscious effort toward greater play on the flanks -- traditionally not a Galaxy strength -- with the additions this season of
Stefan Ishizaki
(
pictured right
),
Baggio Husidic
, and outside back
Dan Gargan
; the emergence of speedster
Gyasi Zardes
;
Robbie Rogers
' transition to left back; and Donovan's regular presence on the left side of midfield.
Captain Robbie Keane, whose mobility and knack for dropping deep to spearhead the attack, has been pivotal, and so has been the play of Brazilian midfielder Juninho and Marcelo Sarvas, whose imprint on the Galaxy's style is mammoth.
The result: LA has dominated more foes than not since summer arrived, with at least 55 percent possession in 13 of 19 games -- and more than 60 percent in five outings, including last weekend's triumph over the Sounders -- since the 3-0 romp at Seattle in late July. They doubled opponents' shot totals in 16 of 37 league games, including postseason (tripled or better in 10 of those matches) and led MLS in goals (69) and, by a great margin, goal difference (plus-32). And, according to the statisticians at Opta Sports, they should have netted another 33 goals.
For Galaxy fans and neutral observers, it's been beautiful to see.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” associate head coach Dave Sarachan said. “There were times when we had David where we thought maybe he hit too many big balls. Beautiful soccer, everybody has a different picture of it, but I think our picture is utilizing the ball and having more of a possession-oriented game and having the movement, the freedom to interchange.
“I think when you have that picture and you can plug in the pieces to complete it, it sort of works.”
It's all about the ball movement and interchange, with sequences of 20 and 30 passes often leading to goals or near-misses. Some of the strikes recall what Spain and Barcelona were doing a few years ago. Really.
“If Barcelona or Arsenal scored some of the goals we've scored,” Donovan noted earlier this season, “people would be talking about it for months on end.”
“Pound for point, I don't think I've seen as many quality goals with combination play and interchanging and multitude of passes [in MLS] as I've seen us score this year ...,” said Sarachan, who has coached in the league since year one. “It has been special this year. The quality of combination and interchange, I don't think I've seen. Certainly in MLS. I don't remember teams that have executed the way we have and created the kind of chances we're creating.”
It's what the Galaxy brass hoped for after Beckham's departure.
“We knew you can't replace David on a lot of levels, and in a technical sense, you're losing a guy that can make a play -- make a final play -- and see things that others can't,” Sarachan said. “You're always looking to replace quality with quality, and at the end of the day, your system is defined by the players that you have.
“We may have lost a little bit on the moments that come that can make a difference out of midfield [without Beckham], but you gain that with hard work and a good relationship, as we've built with Juninho and Sarvas, and it allows some freedom for the wide guys to be involved. Our system kind of evolved with the players that we ended up having this year, and it took some time to develop a real chemistry within that group. I think once we did that, we were pretty dangerous.”
The Galaxy work hard at it, spending in training “a lot of time doing passing drills, moving, working on our shape and spacing and things like that,” Donovan noted.
“This is how we wanted to play,” he continued. “Even when David was here, we had stretches where we would keep the ball and possess the ball and be aggressive in that way, But since he's been gone, with Marcelo and Juni, with Stefan, Baggio, the way our outside backs have developed into good passers and our center backs have developed into really good passers of the ball, that makes us capable of playing that way.”
Not that the Galaxy wouldn't like to still have Beckham.
“When David Beckham is on the field, he's very influential,” head coach Bruce Arena said. “What he brings to your team is special, and if you told me right now would I take a guy who could hit a 50-yard ball with accuracy and get behind the other team, I would say yes.”
But LA's dominance this year has been impressive.
“It wasn't like a bunch of these games could have gone either way,” Arena said. “We've had a real convincing period of time over [the past few months]. We've been a pretty convincing team.”
Keane, who joined LA in August 2011, has played a critical role. LA's transition to what they've become really started when he joined Donovan up front.
“In this league, I don't remember a guy having quite the impact of Robbie -- the quality and the professionalism, the whole package,” Sarachan said. “I think when the history books are written, he's going to go down as arguably the best forward [to have played in MLS]. And so within out team, the creativity and mobility and movement and the passing and the finishing that he creates allows all the others to be involved. He's sort of the kingpin to all of it.”
Keane says it all came together a few months into this season.
“It didn't look like this when I came, but if you look at this year, Marcelo and Juni, both of them have come into their own and certainly been fantastic for us,” he said. “Maybe the start of the season didn't start off as well as we'd like, but when we started playing well, if you look at the performances since then, our performances have been fantastic, and the way we like to play is getting at people, attacking people, entertaining and scoring goals.
“Certainly, that's been the case for a good few months now.”
