Soccer newsletter: FC Barcelona is on the comeback trail

Hello, and welcome to the weekly L.A. Times soccer newsletter. I’m
Kevin Baxter, The Times’ soccer author, and today we’ll expect at Gareth Bale opening his MLS account for a streaking LAFC and the Galaxy ending their slide; LAFC moving to cut off some loyal season-ticket holders during a global pandemic, and the Milky way’due south Javier “Chicharito” Hernández getting a vote of confidence from a former coach in his quest to make his way back to the Mexican national team.

But we start with Barcelona, the iconic Spanish powerhouse that is attempting to rise Phoenix-similar from the ashes of fiscal mismanagement.

Joan Laporta, who presided over ane of the most successful years in Barcelona’s history, with the team winning a record six trophies in a 12-month catamenia in 2009 and 2010, was reelected president final year in place of
Josep Maria Bartomeu, who resigned in Oct 2020 along with the team’s board of directors later a vote of no confidence from club members.

Laporta, threescore, inherited a nigh $one.4-billion debt and a “terminal” financial crisis then grave that Barcelona had to part with
Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest player of his generation, to pay its bills. Withal, the club is nowhere near balancing its books, so Laporta has begun selling stakes in Barcelona’s La Liga TV rights to raise coin.

Earlier this summertime, the squad, in a pair of transactions, sold 25% of those rights over the next 25 years to Sixth Street, a U.S. private equity group, for $518 million.

“It was necessary. Because we are in a very hard state of affairs,” Laporta said in a Saturday conversation from Las Vegas, hours earlier Barcelona beat Real Madrid i-0 for its second consecutive victory on a iv-game U.S. tour. “Nosotros want to exist back as soon as possible. In that location is no patience. We have to movement in the nowadays, taking intendance of the future because the fans don’t wait.”

“At present with these deals,” he added, “we are leaving the hospital. The club is almost good for you. Still recovering, just we are dorsum and nosotros are gear up to compete at a high level.”

The auction of the Telly rights is a run a risk that could hamstring Barcelona going forward. Simply in the short term it has allowed Laporta to demonstrate the club’south ambition by committing more than $130 million to bring in
Raphinha, who scored the only goal in the win over Real Madrid, from Leeds United and
Robert Lewandowski
from Bayern Munich, ii of five transfers Barcelona landed this summer.

“It’south a message to everyone else that Barcelona is all the same here,” he said.

It’south not like Laporta has forgotten the futurity, however, since Lewandowski is the but transfer older than 26.

“It’s a very exciting project with young players that take a present and a hereafter,” Laporta said. “The combination, with the very young thespian with our oldest players, we are creating a center class between 24 and 25 years one-time. This combination, nosotros expect that it volition work.”

It meliorate considering different the situation in many U.S. sports, in which information technology’southward non uncommon for big teams to enter a fallow unbuilding stage periodically, European soccer powers can’t afford even one down flavor. Barcelona, for example, finished second in La Liga, played in the Champions League, made it to the quarterfinals of the Europa League and the semifinals of the Spanish Super Loving cup, and won 26 games in all competitions concluding flavor. Merely for the second time in three seasons it didn’t win a trophy, so for its supporters, the campaign was a disaster.

“The challenge in this is to win every season. At to the lowest degree to compete,” Laporta said. “Being realistic, we were in a period of our history that we didn’t compete enough. We desire to compete again. That’s the reason why we are there.

“Barca is the most important social club in the football industry. It is the best-known sports club in the world. Nosotros need to [go on] our fans happy.”

For the players, the most challenging role of Barca’due south season of turmoil was just trying to stay focused on the game through all the upheaval, said goalkeeper
Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who has been with the team since 2014.

“It’s exterior dissonance, but obviously it has an event considering you see the mood of the supporters, you lot run into the mood in the club,” he said. “We made and so many changes in the last years that every season there was something new coming up and nosotros couldn’t get really into a catamenia.

“Hopefully, this flavour will exist different. I call up we were quite settled. Of course, we always have to manage and we have to perform. It’s all on u.s.a., definitely.”

This summer’s additions will change the personality of the squad, simply the most important transfer is Lewandowski, a 7-time Bundesliga scoring champion. And Ter Stegen, who also came to Barcelona from Deutschland, expects his assimilation into the squad will be seamless.

“With some players it’south easier, with some others it’s a fleck more than hard,” he said. “Nosotros talk almost language, we talk about likewise the integration in the team. Our group is very good in this. It won’t be a big problem.

“Now information technology’s having a rhythm; the new signings, they get a feeling of what is our style, what is the philosophy of the club and the coach. From then on, information technology volition be super easy. I’m relaxed about the team spirit in general. This won’t be whatsoever problem.”

Bale, LAFC keeping winning; Galaxy ends three-game slide

It wasn’t
Zlatan Ibrahimovic
scoring twice in a xx-minute span to plough a loss into a win or
Robbie Keane
scoring the go-ahead goal in a rivalry game in his MLS debut to assist the Galaxy to a second consecutive Supporters’ Shield.

But
Gareth Bale’s commencement score for LAFC on Saturday ultimately might prove just every bit memorable.

The Welsh national team captain came off the bench in the 2nd half for the 2nd calendar week in a row and 18 minutes later scored an insurance goal to cap a ii-0 road win over Sporting Kansas City that kept LAFC (14-iv-3) atop the MLS table and briefly tied Austin for the league lead in scoring.

The sequence started with Bale intercepting an errant laissez passer deep in the Kansas City end and sending information technology ahead to
Cristian Arango
at the midfield stripe. Arango, who scored LAFC’due south commencement goal, his 7th in eight games, somewhen returned the ball to Bale in space on the wing, and equally three defenders collapsed on him at the peak of the penalty area, he sent a depression left-footed shot inside the correct post.

“Nice to come on and catch a goal,” Bale said afterward. “From a personal indicate of view, information technology’s squeamish to go off the marking. And more importantly get the three points.”

He nearly had another in the final minute of stoppage fourth dimension, but his chip over goalkeeper
Tim Melia
missed well wide of the same right mail service.

“The transition’s been only kind of a normal one. What I expected,” he said. “It’s going to have some fourth dimension. I would be in preseason now in Europe, then I’grand getting my fettle support quickly. I’chiliad starting to feel ameliorate and amend each twenty-four hour period.

“I’m enjoying information technology here.”

Defender
Giorgio Chiellini, another newly arrived veteran from Europe, fabricated his second sequent start for LAFC but came out at halftime in hot, steamy conditions in Kansas City.

Omnibus
Steve Cherundolo, who has been a principal of second-one-half tactical adjustments this season, also made a germination alter at intermission, and it paid off with two goals 27 minutes apart.

“I would always love for u.s.a. to play to our potential from the commencement minute on and for 90 minutes. That isn’t always possible for many factors. Fatigue, opponent, conditions, field conditions,” said Cherundolo, whose team has won three in a row and lost just once in its concluding nine MLS games.

“But I would love for this team to always play to their potential. Considering if we do, nosotros’re going to win a lot of games and score a lot of goals.”

LAFC is 11-0 when it scores first, and goalkeeper
Maxime Crepeau
once more made his team’s ii scores stand up by stopping three shots to record his 6th shutout of the season, matching his career high.

Kévin Cabral of the Galaxy scores against Atlanta on Sun night.

(James Williamson / Getty Images)

The Galaxy, meanwhile, ran their tape to 8-one-1 when scoring showtime and keeper
Jonathan Bail
recorded his career-all-time seventh shutout of the season in a 2-0 win over Atlanta United on Sunday night. But while LAFC has dominated MLS all season, the Galaxy (nine-9-3) are hanging on to a playoff position by a thread. They pb Portland for the Western Conference’south seventh and concluding postseason berth on a tiebreaker.

The win, on goals from
Kévin Cabral
and
Dejan Joveljic, ended a iii-game losing streak and was simply the fourth victory in the last 13 games in all competitions. It besides featured an impressive MLS debut from a newly caused player in midfielder
Gastón Brugman, whom coach
Greg Vanney
believes could go a long way toward filling ane of the team’s greatest needs.

“Nosotros’ve been a little bit calorie-free in the midfield,” said Vanney, who has been dealing with injuries to
Mark Delgado,
Rayan Raveloson,
Sacha Kljestan
and
Victor Vázquez. “We had a hard time winning midfield, and if y'all can’t win midfield, you’re vulnerable.

“[On Sunday], we were able to practice it because those guys were dorsum and salubrious and in solid fitness. And Gastón getting into the mix was fantastic. A wonderful actor. Really suits what we’re trying to do.”

The goals also were positive signs with Cabral scoring off a rebound in the seventh minute for his first goal of the year and Joveljic calculation to his team pb by getting his 9th of the season deep into stoppage time. Joveljic has scored in six consecutive home games, tying a team record final matched by Ibrahimovic.

“The most important part for this grouping is that it’s a win,” Vanney said. “It allows us to build off of this. It’southward a existent positive affair. Nosotros have quality in our locker room. We only need to have all of our pieces out in that location gear up to go.”

The Eastern Conference is keeping the Milky way in the Western Conference playoff picture. The team has lost just one of half-dozen interconference games but is 5-8-2 in the Due west. The Galaxy will take to plough that effectually if they hope to stay in the race because but two of their final thirteen games are confronting Eastern Conference foes.

LAFC cancels some of its longest-tenured fans

Speaking of LAFC, the squad terminal week emailed hundreds of longtime season-ticket holders and informed them their memberships would not exist renewed for adjacent season because they resold a “substantial portion” of their tickets.

LAFC permits the resale of tickets on the secondary marketplace; in fact, it offers a tutorial on how to practice and so on its website. But the squad said the flavour-ticket members who received the email resold up to 90% of their tickets, which it claims violates its membership agreement.

LAFC isn’t the but team that has tried to sanction season-ticket holders who have resold their seats. Several seasons ago, the Dodgers stripped ticket brokers of their power to buy season-ticket packages, assertive the squad could brand more than money by cutting out the middle man. This is role of what my colleague
Neb Shaikin
wrote at the time:

“The Dodgers and other teams mostly had enjoyed a mutually benign co-beingness with ticket brokers. The team would sell them season tickets, cashing in before the season started and counting all the tickets sold — whether used or non — in its attendance. The brokers took the financial hazard — they might have to sell some tickets at a loss or not at all — simply developed a human relationship with customers that trusted the brokers could become tickets for any game or concert in town.

“Over the form of the regular season, brokers say, they might lose or brand a picayune money. The big profit rolls in, they say, when the Dodgers play deep into the postseason. That meant millions of dollars went into the pockets of brokers, not the Dodgers. Then after the 2017 flavor, the Dodgers decided to cut out the brokers.”

An LAFC spokesman declined to discuss the squad’south policies on the record just privately said it too was trying to cut out brokers who were making coin off the squad. The plan backfired horribly.

Co-ordinate to several season-tickets holders who got the email, many of whom bought tickets packages long before LAFC’s first game, the squad did not reach out ahead of the e-mail telling them they were in violation of team policy. Instead, LAFC suddenly and without alert canceled hundreds of ticket holders, some of whom have spent $10,000 or more than in supporting the team since its inception.

Many of those impacted told me they accept been unable to nourish games regularly since 2019 because of COVID-19 only wanted to continue bankroll the team and planned to return to the stadium when it was condom.

“I accept comorbidities. I don’t always feel comfortable,” said one longtime season-ticket holder who didn’t desire to apply his proper noun, fearing retaliation from the squad for speaking out on the matter. “I planned on going to games this year. It hasn’t worked out. I’ve lost money.”

Several fans whose tickets were canceled contacted their ticket representatives and were told zip could be done. However,
Seth Burton, LAFC’due south senior vice president for communications and content, said in a text message that the squad would work with anyone who believes their accounts have been wrongly targeted.

LAFC, which has more than 17,000 season-ticket holders and a waiting listing of potential buyers, has long referred to its supporters as family members and besides has marketed the fan surroundings and relationship with the team. Last week’s actions will impairment that, especially coming just days after Bale and Chiellini made their MLS debuts, raising the excitement level around the team.

“That’s a expert strategy so long as yous’re winning,” Shaikin told me. And LAFC is definitely doing that. The team tops the league in wins and points and is endmost in on its second Supporters’ Shield in four seasons.

Simply, he added, “If you start losing and you go back to the fans you dumped, well, good luck with that.”

Chicharito’due south Earth Cup pursuit backed past a former coach

Galaxy captain
Javier “Chicharito” Hernández
reportedly spoke with Mexican motorcoach
Tata Martino
last week in hopes of clearing a way for his render to the national team. Hernández, 33, Mexico’due south all-time leading scorer, hasn’t played for El Tri since the summer of 2019, a banishment said to exist linked to a violation of team rules for which the player had refused to apologize.

Nonetheless, at least one influential former coach said Hernández, the Galaxy’s top scorer over the terminal two seasons, should be on the squad.

“I remember and then,” Tigres managing director
Miguel Herrera, who coached Mexico to the round of xvi in the 2014 Globe Cup, said in Spanish. “He is doing everything he can. But I don’t decide. [Martino] is the passenger vehicle.

“Sometimes the best aren’t [there] considering they can’t adapt to what the bus wants. Javier volition be called if the motorcoach wants him.”

Herrera, who lost simply 7 of 36 games in less than two years as United mexican states’south manager, chuckled during a brief interview at the Tigres’ offices in Monterrey when asked whether he likes his longtime nickname Piojo, which translates as louse or pest.

“It’s a nickname that the Atlante guild gave me,” said Herrera, who played and later coached for the Mexico City team. “When they would shout ‘Piojo,’ I would turn effectually. We used to be very mischievous when it came to nicknames.”

And finally there’s this …

The Mexican soccer federation announced Thursday that information technology has suspended the coaching staff of its U20 women’south national team, including longtime manager
Maribel Domínguez, pending an unspecified investigation. U17 head motorcoach
Ana Galindo
is taking over the squad in the acting. Earlier this month, the federation parted ways with
Gerardo Torrado, the federation’southward sporting director;
Ignacio Hierro, the national team’south director; and
Luis Pérez, double-decker of the U20 team, later on the men’s and women’southward teams failed to qualify for their next Globe Cups and the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Podcast

Don’t miss my weekly podcast on the Corner of the Galaxy site as co-host Josh Guesman and I talk over the Milky way each Monday. Yous can mind to the near recent podcast hither.

Quotebook

“There’s never been in history something like this. It’southward going to be demanding but at the same exciting.”

Jamal Musiala, a teenage forward for Bayern Munich and the High german national team, on the get-go club flavor that will be intersected by a Globe Cup