When LAFC entered Major League Soccer in 2018, it was a noisy, brash upstart willing to challenge the hegemony of the Galaxy, its Southern California neighbor.
The Galaxy were the class of league, an original franchise and five-time champion who had made the playoffs eight times in the previous nine seasons, winning three MLS Cups and two Supporters’ Shields. It’s owner, the septuagenarian Philip Anschutz, had co-founded the league and years later saved it from bankruptcy.
LAFC was an expansion team with a Hollywood-led ownership group, many of whom had no background in soccer.