This article is an expanded version of the one found on page 12 of the Jan. 29, 2001, issue of Soccer America Magazine. A IS FOR ALMOST … The Los Angeles Galaxy has three Western Division titles and more regular-season wins than any other MLS club, but it’s still looking for a championship. Here’s L.A.’s first five seasons, A to Z. BY SCOTT FRENCH in Los Angeles Jack Nicholson merely watches the Lakers. Galaxy “celeb” Andrew Shue (“Melrose Place”), who played at Dartmouth and in Zimbabwe, saw action in five MLS games in ’96. Oscar-winning sister Elisabeth never showed up to watch, but her cheesecake photos kept turning up, to his chagrin, around his Rose Bowl cubicle. Forget D.C. United. Bob Bradley is the Galaxy’s real No. 1 nemesis. Bradley outmaneuvered L.A. for Chris Armas after the ’98 expansion draft, then stuffed the Galaxy’s 85-goal attack in the ’98 Western Conference finals, keeping L.A. from a Rose Bowl final. Paul Caligiuri started 21 games in 1996 for the Columbus Crew, but his heart was in Pasadena. He sued MLS to honor a contract that promised allocation to his hometown Galaxy, and an arbiter sided with the veteran defender, who was awarded to L.A. in 1997. After 14 games of hemming and hawing, the Galaxy sent Mark Semioli to the MetroStars to open cap room for Caligiuri, who scored in his debut. He’s played in 88 league games since. The Galaxy has had MLS’s best defense over the first five seasons (1.27 GAA), a testament to Lothar Osiander’s philosophy, Sigi Schmid’s organization and some of the league’s best defensive personnel. Galaxy goalkeepers have twice led the league (Jorge Campos, ’96; Kevin Hartman, ’99), and the back line seems a springboard to the national team (Robin Fraser, Greg Vanney and Danny Califf, but also Joey Franchino, Steve Jolley and Dan Calichman). Paul Caligiuri has enjoyed a renaissance in the back, Mark Semioli was superb in ’96, and MetroStars castoff Ezra Hendrickson has been among MLS’s most productive defenders. Throw in a strong defensive midfielder — Chris Armas, Danny Pena or 2000 MVP Simon Elliott — and it’s no mystery why L.A. has been so stingy. The Mexicans get the headlines, but L.A.’s biggest draw has always been playmaker Mauricio Cienfuegos, hero to Southern California’s large community from El Salvador. He was at his best spraying the ball among Cobi Jones, Welton, Martin Machon and Hendrickson in early ’98, but he slumped to seven assists in 2000 (after 16 and 17 the previous two seasons). Two MLS Cups at Foxboro Stadium, two losses to D.C. United. A 2-0 lead disappeared in the final 17 minutes of the ’96 final, as Jaime Moreno and Marco Etcheverry took advantage of L.A.’s lack of depth in the back (Dan Calichman suspended, Mark Semioli and Arash Noamouz forced to go 90-plus despite injuries) and Jorge Campos’ inability to hold on at critical moments. The ’99 title game went wrong after Robin Fraser exited with a broken collarbone. The greatest Galaxy goal? Would you believe … John Garvey? It’s true — he poked home the cross after Jorge Campos spectacularly sombrero’d past a Dallas defender in the ’96 regular-season finale. No. 2: Arash Noamouz weaves past four defenders en route to the net. Same game. The prime responsibility for Se±ors Hermosillo, Hernandez and Campos: butts in seats. Their success is debatable — L.A. has led MLS in attendance three seasons (finishing second the other two years), but the numbers haven’t grown since falling from an average of 28,916 to 20,626 following the inaugural season. On the field, the Mexican trio has been spotty. Campos enjoyed a fine 1996, but his focus soon waned, and L.A. was only too happy to unload him in that Armas deal. Carlos Hermosillo’s and Luis Hernandez’s arrivals caused upheavals in the team. The lumbering Hermosillo (14, 15 in 34 games) effectively put the brakes on L.A.’s freewheeling attack in ’98, but it reached the MLS Cup with him the next season. Hernandez’s addition last year cost L.A. three starters, destroying its depth and halting its sizable momentum. While Hernandez (4, 6 in 16) struggled all year to acclimate to the rougher, quicker game played north of the border, deportee Clint Mathis was an MVP finalist with the MetroStars. Look at the talent the Galaxy has squandered, you’d think the team was run by idiots. There’s Armas. Ante Razov was waived twice. Mark Semioli, Dan Calichman and Steve Jolley were given away for draft choices. Martin Machon was “loaned” to a Mexican club. And David Vaudreuil, part of D.C.’s first two title-winners? Only after he was cut by L.A. Cobi Jones has led the Galaxy in scoring the last three seasons, and his L.A.-leading career totals (48, 40, 136) places him sixth on MLS’s all-time list. He was unstoppable in ’98 (19, 13, 51), when L.A. used his and Welton’s speed to scorch opponents for an MLS-record 85 goals. He’s a marked man in MLS: No one has been fouled as often (348 times). Call it Kramer vs. Kevin. One was going to be Jorge Campos’ backup, the other, well, wasn’t. Kevin Hartman, the third-round college pick, got the nod because he berated lazy Eduardo Hurtado in training, showing a spirit the coaches liked. Quieter David Kramer took off for San Jose, and Hartman was No. 1 within a year. Lothar Osiander was thinking chemistry and defense when he began building the Galaxy in 1996. He asked for Calichman’s allocation, grabbed Fraser with his first pick and Semioli soon after. Most of his allocations were egoless pros with strong work ethics (Calichman, Campos, Cienfuegos and Jones), and he coaxed one amazing season from big Hurtado. A 3-9 start in ’97 cost Osiander, recently canned as San Jose Earthquakes coach, his job. The MetroStars? Galaxy East. There’s Octavio Zambrano, of course, and they’ve had Semioli since L.A. had to clear salary-cap space for Caligiuri. The league-engineered makeover last year handed the Metros Clint Mathis and Roy Myers. And Zambrano quickly brought Jolley and Daniel Hernandez — two of his L.A. favorites — to Jersey. J-League vet Calichman was the Galaxy’s unquestioned leader through its first three seasons, and he teamed with Fraser as part of MLS’s best central-defense tandem. His absence to suspension cost L.A. in the MLS Cup ’96 final, but his loss to a broken leg eight games into the ’98 season was tempered by Jolley’s performance in his place. Jolley’s play in part persuaded Zambrano to send Calichman to New England for draft choices used on Seth George and Gabe Eastman. Three Galaxy rookies — Danny Califf, Sasha Victorine and Peter Vagenas — played key roles in the United States’ medal run at the Sydney Olympics. In all, L.A. has six Olympians, with Caligiuri (’88), Jones (’92) and new addition Alexi Lalas (’92 and ’96). Danny Pena’s strong play in ’97 earned him a national team call-up. The midfielder, an indoor/outdoor veteran whose take-no-prisoners style has elicited scorn from some foes, told Steve Sampson thanks, but no thanks. The scheduled friendly was just days before a showdown with D.C. United, and Pena’s loyalties were apparent. He never got another shot with the U.S. team. The Galaxy could have used a good quack to get inside Eduardo Hurtado’s head. El Tanque dominated MLS defenses in ’96, but a fragile ego and differences with fellow Ecuadoran Octavio Zambrano killed his productivity. He slipped from 21 goals and 49 points to eight and 19 in ’97 and was shipped to New Jersey in early ’98. The Galaxy has done exceptional work in MLS’s drafts, right from the start when it nabbed Robin Fraser (what were you thinking, Dave Dir?) with the fourth overall pick. Armas and Vanney also arrived in ’96 drafts, but most impressive: six of the seven players L.A. selected during the ’97 and ’98 college drafts (Jolley, Hartman, Mathis, Daniel Hernandez, Matt Reis and Franchino) have stuck with MLS. Only the goalkeepers, Hartman and Reis, remain in L.A. Sigi Schmid won three NCAA titles at UCLA, and he refused MLS entreaties until he got the job he wanted. He took charge in April 1997 after coaching the U.S. at the U-20 World Cup in Nigeria, brought greater structure and a more-disciplined brand of play to the Galaxy. Los Angeles reached the final, and Schmid was voted coach of the year. His ’98 team was unbeaten after 11 games, but he was forced to start over when Luis Hernandez arrived. A difficult season nearly led to a third MLS Cup, but K.C. prevailed in a semifinal tiebreaker. For all their success, the Galaxy has no trophies. It’s a three-time bridesmaid, twice in MLS and at the 1997 CONCACAF Champions Cup. In that tournament, shutout wins over El Salvador’s Luis Angel Firpo and D.C. United sent L.A. to the title game at RFK, where Carlos Hermosillo scored twice against his future teammates as Cruz Azul claimed the confederation crown with a 5-3 victory. No surprise there’s a heavy UCLA presence in the Galaxy, but it’s been around longer than Schmid. Fourteen Bruins have been with L.A., five of them — Vanney, Jones, Hartman, Caligiuri and Zak Ibsen — playing in at least 50 matches. GM/President Danny Villanueva followed in his father’s footsteps — Danny Sr. was president of the NASL’s Aztecs. Villanueva and L.A. Soccer Partners LP sold out to Fire-Rapids owner Philip F. Anschutz in ’98. L.A.’s current corporate brethren includes the Lakers, Kings, Dodgers and Fox television. L.A. has put together MLS’s two longest winning streaks, reeling off 12 in a row to start that first season and stringing together 15 in 1997-98 (last six of ’97, first nine of ’98). The Galaxy also fashioned a 12-game unbeaten tear that carried it through 11 games last season. A training center would be Xanadu for the Galaxy, which has conducted practices at nearly a dozen sites around Southern California. The worst: the Rose Bowl’s grass parking area, a sloped, sometimes garbage- or glass-strewn parcel, where Vanney nearly tore a groin muscle when he stretched for a ball and landed on a manhole cover. Better things are expected if all follows plan on the proposed stadium in Carson. Zambrano instituted a youth movement in ’99, dumping Calichman, Machon and Wellington Sanchez, and identifying seven players younger than 25 — Hartman, Vanney, Jolley, Franchino, Mathis, Daniel Hernandez and Welton — as potential starters. L.A. had no regulation wins after five games, and Zambrano was gone. Octavio Zambrano, Osiander’s assistant, stepped in as “interim” coach and guided L.A. to 12 wins in its final 17 games of ’97 before a first-round loss to Dallas in the postseason. More attack-minded than his predecessor, Zambrano utilized a speedy counterattack led by Cienfuegos and Jones to destroy most of the opposition in ’98 while his defense surrendered the fewest goals in MLS. But L.A. went 2-6 against D.C. and Chicago and fell to the Fire in a tense Western finals. (Scott French is a senior editor at Soccer America.)