LA Galaxy, the "Envy of 29 Other MLS teams"

Los Angeles, Calif. -- The LA Galaxy have not had a good season.

Any quantifiable metric, from the MLS Supporters' Shield standings (LA is last) to their points total (the worst in team history), will support that. The Galaxy’s fall from the top has been swift and sudden, and they’ll only hold their crown a bit longer, as they’ve already been eliminated from the postseason.

And yet, 29 other MLS teams are looking at the current MLS Cup Champions with envy, according to LA Galaxy Midfielder Diego Fagundez.

"There's going to be teams making the playoffs that don't get to lift a trophy or get into a final," Fagundez told La Cuna Galaxiana in an exclusive interview before the Galaxy’s Campeones Cup Final against Liga MX Champion, Toluca, on Wednesday, October 1, 2025. “And here we are, two days away from being able to lift a trophy and at home with our fans. So, I think there's still a lot to play for.”

The veteran midfielder is correct. Playing for a continental trophy is never a small affair, and Wednesday represents the Galaxy’s only chance to add a piece of silverware this season. 

Fagundez’s comments, just two days before a final, synced with his sentiments from LA’s 4-1 home win over Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night. He urged his teammates to “keep their foot on the accelerator,” and that the team “needs to come hungry,” like in the performance they produced over the weekend.

LA Galaxy Head Coach Greg Vanney echoed Fagundez in the Galaxy’s press conference on Tuesday, September 30. The Galaxy boss spoke about the magnitude of this match in a season filled with disappointment. 

“I think this is just an opportunity, again, for us to take something out of this season,” Vanney said of the one-off match that pits the MLS champion vs. their Mexican counterpart.

"We got a Champions League spot for next year, which is obviously really positive. Now, this is a chance to put a trophy in the trophy case. It’s a legacy for these players. All of our attention is put in tomorrow."

Edwin Cerrillo, who has partnered Fagundez for the majority of the season in midfield, will be tasked with keeping Toluca’s formidable offensive engine quiet. He didn’t hesitate to confirm when asked if this was the Galaxy’s biggest game of the year.

"That's definitely the mentality we have to come out with, and the energy we have to come out with at the beginning," Cerrillo expressed confidently. "Because we know no matter what we're playing for, at this club we have to go out there to win, and when there's a trophy on the line and a Mexican opponent on the other side, it's us versus them. It's also you play for pride, you play for showing who the bigger league is, the bigger team.

"That's the importance of this game and that's how much it means to us, so fully expect us to come out with everything we got from the start."

Aside from a victory putting a trophy in LA’s honors case and putting a smile on Galaxy fans’ faces, it will also give MLS bragging rights over its confederation neighbors. Only three MLS teams have won the Campeones Cup before, and the Galaxy would win the all-important “game 7” should they triumph in the cup’s seventh edition.

And should the Galaxy triumph over Toluca in a game in which LA is a heavy underdog, it will just serve to prove Fagundez right. 

The last-place Galaxy would be the envy of 29 other MLS teams.