Earlier than becoming a member of the Galaxy two years in the past, spent two seasons with the Columbus Crew, successful an MLS Cup one yr after which failing to get out of the primary spherical of the playoffs the subsequent.
The lesson, Ramírez mentioned, is it’s far simpler to climb to the highest of the league than it’s to remain there. And if the , who , didn’t know that already they actually discovered Sunday once they opened protection of their title with a listless, .
The loss was the workforce’s first at Dignity Well being Sports activities Park in 22 video games and made the Galaxy the primary reigning MLS champion to lose their season opener to an growth workforce. The Galaxy might have sneaked up on groups final yr, however this season they’ll be enjoying with a giant goal on their backs.
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“It turns into a championship sport for groups to show themselves in opposition to us,” Ramírez mentioned. “It’s a bit of little bit of the curse of the championship.”
And the MLS Cup Curse is actual.
No MLS workforce has received back-to-back titles since in 2011-12. Since then, solely two groups — the Seattle Sounders and LAFC — have even made consecutive appearances within the ultimate.
Extra typical is the expertise of Toronto FC, which received the Cup in 2017 then missed the playoffs the subsequent season, dropping 18 video games, then the second-most in franchise historical past. Or Columbus, which received the Cup in 2020, then missed the playoffs the subsequent yr.
Ramírez, together with defender Eriq Zavaleta (Toronto, 2017) and goalkeeper John McCarthy (LAFC, 2022), are the one gamers on the Galaxy roster who’ve lived the curse. So it’s as much as them, Ramírez mentioned, to show the lesson.
“It’s one thing that I’ll be capable to move [on], understanding what’s coming, how groups rise up for these video games,” he mentioned.
That will be a extra helpful contribution than the one Ramírez made on the sector Sunday. The alternative for striker , who was traded to Sporting Kansas Metropolis after scoring the successful objective within the MLS Cup ultimate, Ramírez was invisible in opposition to San Diego, taking simply 12 touches and failing to get off a shot in 63 minutes.
However he wasn’t the one one who underwhelmed. Midfielders Marco Reus and Lucas Sanabria, enjoying instead of the , out indefinitely with a torn ACL, and Mark Delgado, who was traded, have been additionally ineffective. With out Puig and winger , lacking with a quadriceps harm, was the one designated participant on the sector, leaving the Galaxy’s so-called Killers Ps to get replaced by what coach Greg Vanney referred to as the Lethal Ds; an assault that was disconnected, disjointed and never very dynamic.
“We didn’t seem like a workforce that simply received the championship,” the coach mentioned. “We regarded like a workforce that was becoming some issues collectively.”
Which it’s. A giant purpose for the MLS Cup Curse is the league’s difficult, cruel and convoluted wage construction, which punishes success by making it robust to squeeze the efficiency bonuses and the raises that include a championship beneath a frugal funds cap. That’s why 5 starters from final season are now not on the Galaxy roster and a sixth, defender Maya Yoshida, who led MLS in minutes performed whereas captaining the Galaxy to the title, needed to take a pay lower to return again.
That’s additionally why 4 of the gamers who appeared in Sunday’s opener weren’t even on the workforce for December’s MLS Cup ultimate. If that wasn’t an excuse for the Galaxy’s listless efficiency, it was at the very least at clarification.
Yoshida, nevertheless, was having none of that.
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“There’s no excuse,” he mentioned. “It’s a brand new season. Everyone began equal. Now we have to combat as a challenger.”
Particularly once they’re the champions. As a result of whereas the Galaxy celebrated its title by unfurling a championship banner earlier than Sunday’s sport, afterward San Diego celebrated as if it had simply received a ultimate by beating the champs.
Yoshida mentioned the workforce will both should get used to that or discover a strategy to cease it. And the time for that is brief. The Galaxy play Sunday in Vancouver earlier than opening CONCACAF Champions Cup play three days later, starting a rush of seven video games in at the very least two international locations and three states in 27 days.
They’ll enter every a kind of video games with a giant goal on their backs.
“This can be a new problem for us, how [much] they wish to beat us,” Yoshida mentioned. “Now we have to be prepared for this. Now we have to combat. Now we have to be higher.”
As a result of as Christian Ramírez can attest, the MLS Cup Curse is actual.
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