Football Season Review

The 2016 season proved to be another below-par campaign for Los Angeles Galaxy as they failed to make it to the Conference finals for a second straight year. LA were once again the team to beat, especially after coach Bruce Arena boosted his options with three more big names as Jelle Van Damme, Ashley Cole and Nigel de Jong arrived at the club to link up with Steven Gerrard, Robbie Keane and Giovani Dos Santos. With such rich options, LA were expected to improve on a poor campaign from previous season but once again failed to hit a consistent run of form. A poor return of just five wins from the first half of the season left LA playing catchup while De Jong's controversial stay at the club was curtailed prematurely with the midfielder being moved on in August. Ashley Cole and Van Damme did improve LA's defense but Gerrard once again failed to impress, though he did manage to rack up nine assists, while Keane endured an injury-hit campaign which limited him to just 16 starts. The younger players though provided a ray of hope for the future with Dos Santos top scoring with 15 goals while Daniel Steres and Brian Rowe also emerged as key players in the starting lineup. They did have to parachute in Landon Donovan, who came out of retirement following De Jong's exit and Gyasi Zardes' long term injury but, while there were a couple of solid displays from the veteran, he was always going to boost the numbers for a squad struggling with injuries. An improved second half of the season meant that LA finished third in the Western Conference before seeing off Real Salt Lake with a good performance in the knockout round only to lose out on penalties to Colorado Rapids in the Conference semifinals. The campaign signaled an end of an era for LA with Keane and Gerrard both leaving the club at the end of the season while Arena has also moved on to replace Jurgen Klinsmann as the USA national team coach. Rather than bring in another big name coach, LA have promoted Curt Onalfo as Arena's replacement and the new coach faces a major rebuilding job in the off-season not just to replace the departed players but also decide on the future of other veterans including Alan Gordon, Jeff Larentowicz and Mike Magee

Player of the Season: Giovani Dos Santos