Determined

Earlier than becoming a member of the Galaxy two years in the past,  spent two seasons with the Columbus Crew, profitable an MLS Cup one yr after which failing to get out of the primary spherical of the playoffs the subsequent.

The lesson, Ramírez mentioned, is it’s far simpler to climb to the highest of the league than it’s to remain there. And if the , who , didn’t know that already they actually discovered Sunday once they opened protection of their title with a listless, .

The loss was the workforce’s first at Dignity Well being Sports activities Park in 22 video games and made the Galaxy the primary reigning MLS champion to lose their season opener to an enlargement workforce. The Galaxy might have sneaked up on groups final yr, however this season they’ll be enjoying with an enormous goal on their backs.

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“It turns into a championship recreation for groups to show themselves in opposition to us,” Ramírez mentioned. “It’s slightly little bit of the curse of the championship.”

And the MLS Cup Curse is actual.

No MLS workforce has gained back-to-back titles since in 2011-12. Since then, solely two groups — the Seattle Sounders and LAFC — have even made consecutive appearances within the remaining.

Extra typical is the expertise of Toronto FC, which gained the Cup in 2017 then missed the playoffs the subsequent season, dropping 18 video games, then the second-most in franchise historical past. Or Columbus, which gained the Cup in 2020, then missed the playoffs the subsequent yr.

Ramírez, together with defender Eriq Zavaleta (Toronto, 2017) and goalkeeper John McCarthy (LAFC, 2022), are the one gamers on the Galaxy roster who’ve lived the curse. So it’s as much as them, Ramírez mentioned, to show the lesson.

“It’s one thing that I’ll be capable to cross [on], understanding what’s coming, how groups stand up for these video games,” he mentioned.

That may be a extra helpful contribution than the one Ramírez made on the sphere Sunday. The alternative for striker , who was traded to Sporting Kansas Metropolis after scoring the profitable purpose within the MLS Cup remaining, Ramírez was invisible in opposition to San Diego, taking simply 12 touches and failing to get off a shot in 63 minutes.

However he wasn’t the one one who underwhelmed. Midfielders Marco Reus and Lucas Sanabria, enjoying rather than the , out indefinitely with a torn ACL, and Mark Delgado, who was traded, have been additionally ineffective. With out Puig and winger , lacking with a quadriceps harm, was the one designated participant on the sphere, leaving the Galaxy’s so-called Killers Ps to get replaced by what coach Greg Vanney known as the Lethal Ds; an assault that was disconnected, disjointed and never very dynamic.

“We didn’t appear to be a workforce that simply gained the championship,” the coach mentioned. “We seemed like a workforce that was becoming some issues collectively.”

Which it’s. A giant motive for the MLS Cup Curse is the league’s difficult, cruel and convoluted wage construction, which punishes success by making it powerful to squeeze the efficiency bonuses and the raises that include a championship below a frugal funds cap. That’s why 5 starters from final season are now not on the Galaxy roster and a sixth, defender Maya Yoshida, who led MLS in minutes performed whereas captaining the Galaxy to the title, needed to take a pay lower to return again.

That’s additionally why 4 of the gamers who appeared in Sunday’s opener weren’t even on the workforce for December’s MLS Cup remaining. If that wasn’t an excuse for the Galaxy’s listless efficiency, it was at the least at rationalization.

Yoshida, nevertheless, was having none of that.

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“There’s no excuse,” he mentioned. “It’s a brand new season. All people began equal. We now have to combat as a challenger.”

Particularly once they’re the champions. As a result of whereas the Galaxy celebrated its title by unfurling a championship banner earlier than Sunday’s recreation, afterward San Diego celebrated as if it had simply gained a remaining by beating the champs.

Yoshida mentioned the workforce will both should get used to that or discover a technique to cease it. And the time for that is brief. The Galaxy play Sunday in Vancouver earlier than opening CONCACAF Champions Cup play three days later, starting a rush of seven video games in at the least two international locations and three states in 27 days.

They’ll enter every a kind of video games with an enormous goal on their backs.

“It is a new problem for us, how [much] they wish to beat us,” Yoshida mentioned. “We now have to be prepared for this. We now have to combat. We now have to be higher.”

As a result of as Christian Ramírez can attest, the MLS Cup Curse is actual.

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This story initially appeared in .