The Los Angeles Galaxy concluded a difficult three-game road trip on Saturday, with an even rougher 4-0 loss to FC Dallas in the punishing Texas heat.
The team could try to shift blame to the three games played in the last week and losing key players to the Gold Cup for the heavy-legged showing in Frisco, but for the first time all season, the team seemed to not be up to fighting for the shirt.
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An away trip that promised so much, with points against the Western Conference’s worst teams on the table up for grabs, saw the Galaxy enter the record books for giving up a hat-trick to a teenager and only pick up one of nine available points.

The road trip spotlighted the team’s current shortcomings concerning lack of squad depth and a reliable offensive weapon when its first-team players aren’t available or misfiring.

To say that the fanbase is down bad during what could be considered the most difficult spell during Los Angeles Galaxy Head Coach Greg Vanney’s short tenure is an understatement.

Luckily, the second season of Ted Lasso dropped last week, and he gave the Galaxy a special shout-out at the premiere via Spectrum reporter Nikki Kay. 

The unflappably optimistic TV coach can also remind Galaxy players and fans of a few key lessons, like the importance of being together during rough stretches.

“I promise you; there is something worse out there than being sad. And that is being alone and being sad. Ain’t no one in this room alone,” Lasso tells his players at the end of an emotional season one finale.

This folksy, almost naïve philosophy must have been something the Galaxy bought into at the beginning of the season. 

The players at the club have spoken time and time again of the closeness in the squad and how they consider themselves brothers.

Veteran Sacha Kljestan and first-year player Jalen Neal have shared about the lack of ego in the team and the support the players show each other.

It actually makes it easy to believe that no G is alone. This closeness will serve the Galaxy well as they weather their first rough stretch together and wait to get back to full strength upon the return of their five Gold Cup international players.  

When Portland comes to Dignity Health Sports Park on Friday, the G’s should follow another pearl out of the Lasso arsenal and “Be a goldfish.”

A mantra centered on being able to let go of past mistakes, “Be a goldfish,” is hammered home in the series as a tool of self-care.

Lasso uses the expression to point out the fish’s ten-second memory, which he claims makes it “the happiest animal in the world.”

The Galaxy would be wise to put the recent three-game malady behind them while using the lessons learned in those games as a springboard for future success. In the next ten days, L.A. has another three games, all against teams (Portland, RSL, Vancouver) that have taken points off Los Angeles in their last meetings.

This is why the club should look to another Lasso-ism out of season two for fortitude.

“These next few months might be tricky. But that’s just because we’re going through our dark forest. Fairy tales do not start, nor do they end in the dark forest. That son of a gun always shows up smack dab in the middle of a story. But it will all work out,” Lasso proclaims during a winless run akin to the Galaxy’s current streak.

If they hope to get out of the dark forest and get back to winning ways against a Portland team that has handed them three straight losses while scoring 14 goals, the Galaxy will have to regroup and buy into one of the most important Lasso lessons.
“Believe in, believe.”
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