Winning a championship in professional sports is tough business. Putting together an entire campaign of being the best — or even a playoff run for the ages — requires a certain degree of good fortune to complement a supremely talented team.
Winning two in a row is considerably more difficult, thus rare. Winning three straight titles is unheard of in some leagues — Major League Soccer being one of them.
That is to say, no team has ever won three straight MLS Cups. On three occasions a club has won back-to-back titles — D.C. United (1996-97), Houston Dynamo (2006-07) and the current two-time defending champions, LA Galaxy.
As the Galaxy's "Quest for Three" draws closer and closer with a Western Conference semifinals matchup against Real Salt Lake beginning on Sunday (9 pm ET, ESPN/ESPN Deportes), LA Galaxy Insider Adam Serrano put together the following infographic that breaks down who exactly has pulled off the mythical three-peat.
For more statistical breakdown of the three-peat, check out his blog at LAGalaxy.com.
All of that digested, where would a potential Galaxy three-peat rank amongst some of the all-time great teams around the world to accomplish the feat? Does MLS' penchance for parity make the Galaxy's run more or less impressive? How about their constant use of three Designated Player slots — a strike against them?
