CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy’s A.J. DeLaGarza considers himself privileged.
The versatile defender is entering his eighth season with the Galaxy, the team that drafted him in the second round (19th overall) in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft out of the University of Maryland, and is the team’s longest-tenured player. The next-longest is defender Leonardo, who joined the Galaxy in 2010.
“It makes me feel old,” DeLaGarza joked after training this week.
“Actually, I’m still in my 20’s and we have a lot of guys in their 30’s, so I really don’t feel that old.”
DeLaGarza said there is no secret to his staying power in Southern California.
“I just try to be consistent every single day,” he said. “Honestly, I’m pretty versatile, so I think that’s helped me, being able to play different spots.”
DeLaGarza, who turns 29 in November, might not even be in the league had it not been for the keen eye of Galaxy associate head coach Dave Sarachan, who actually coached DeLaGarza on one of his youth teams. It was Sarachan who helped persuade the club to take the undersized defender when so many teams hadn’t even given him a second look. DeLaGarza said he had only two meetings with prospective clubs during the 2009 MLS Combine in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and didn’t even hear from Galaxy officials prior to the draft.
“Going into the draft I really had no expectations,” he recalled. “I thought I had a pretty good combine; that’s what kind of pushed me to go as high as I did. I really had no idea if I would go in the first round, second round, third round or not get drafted at all."
DeLaGarza’s name wasn’t called in the first round, and the selection process then went to the Internet.
“It was click and refresh, click and refresh on my computer,” he said with a grin.
DeLaGarza then received a call from Graham Zusi, who eventually went 23rd overall to Kansas City, and he congratulated the unsuspecting DeLaGarza for being selected.
“I said, ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ ” DeLaGarza went on.
“Literally as he was on the phone I refreshed my computer and saw my name pop up. Later I talked to (Galaxy head coach) Bruce (Arena) and a team administrator. It was a surreal moment for sure.”
Sarachan said the pick was a no-brainer.
“People were nervous about his size and the physical dimension,” he said of DeLaGarza, who’s generously listed on the Galaxy roster as 5 feet 9 and 150 pounds. “I’d watched him at Maryland and I understood his soccer I.Q. and the way he played.
“He was so far ahead of so many collegiate players at that time from a positioning and tactical sense, and with (former Galaxy defender and ex-Maryland teammate) Omar (Gonzalez) really did a lot of the cleanup work. I didn’t think size would be as big of an issue when you have that kind of thinking power.”
The rest, as they say, is history. DeLaGarza has developed into one of the Galaxy’s most dependable defenders despite injuries that have curtailed his playing time, particularly during the last two seasons.
“He’s hard to keep out,” Sarachan said. “He just brings a real professionalism. He’ll play hurt; he’s had a little tough run with injuries recently but generally even when he’s got a knock he’s training and putting everything into it.
“You can only succeed when you have an attitude like that.”
DeLaGarza said he continues to savor his good fortune in saying the Galaxy are the only team he’s played for in MLS.
“It’s just a privilege to have the trust in Bruce and the staff to have me here for so long,” he said. “We know this is a business; there’s a lot of turnover and players and coaches change all the time.
“This is just a great place to be.”
