It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at LA Galaxy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at LA Galaxy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Sanabria is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at LA Galaxy, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. LA Galaxy know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Joseph Paintsil and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Justen Glad falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at LA Galaxy, and 5 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at LA Galaxy. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Sharpest man there all week, by every account. It is the quietest line on this page and it usually runs the week before somebody’s run in the side begins.
In brief
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at LA Galaxy
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at LA Galaxy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lucas Sanabria is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Justen Glad was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at LA Galaxy has been clear about where Pablo Ruiz stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what LA Galaxy can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at LA Galaxy this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Portland Timbers left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at LA Galaxy training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Justen Glad is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at LA Galaxy, another week without a signature from Lawrence Ennali.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. LA Galaxy know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
St. Louis CITY SC next, and one man in the LA Galaxy dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what LA Galaxy can pretend not to have heard.
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Lucas Sanabria scored, was marked 7.92, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Joseph Paintsil and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Armindo Sieb trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Los Angeles Football Club. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Los Angeles Football Club is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Los Angeles Football Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amin Boudri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Los Angeles Football Club. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Los Angeles Football Club they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Los Angeles Football Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Los Angeles Football Club can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amin Boudri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ryan Hollingshead has written the date down.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Justin Moore has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Amin Boudri falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Los Angeles Football Club has been clear about where Nathan Steinwascher stands, which is more than many ever get.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ryan Hollingshead has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Los Angeles Football Club, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Los Angeles Football Club the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Los Angeles Football Club they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jeremy Ebobisse and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jacob Shaffelburg is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Nathan Steinwascher has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The captaincy has been taken off Heung-Min Son. Los Angeles Football Club will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Los Angeles Football Club, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Los Angeles Football Club have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Heung-Min Son was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amin Boudri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
11 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Nobody at Los Angeles Football Club will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Something was said to Ryan Raposo and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thomas Hasal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Los Angeles Football Club the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Los Angeles Football Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amin Boudri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Los Angeles Football Club. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Los Angeles Football Club can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Los Angeles Football Club they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Thomas Hasal has agreed terms with LA Galaxy for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Heung-Min Son and Los Angeles Football Club agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amin Boudri is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.11. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Los Angeles Football Club.