CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy’s A.J. DeLaGarza said he was anxious to get back into a normal routine as he returned to training Wednesday.
But life has been anything but normal for the popular veteran who along with his wife Megan has been coping with a tragedy of the most personal kind – the recent death of their newborn son, Luca, from complications from Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.
DeLaGarza returned to the team over the weekend following a four-game absence and played the full 90 minutes in a 1-1 with the San Jose Earthquakes. Wednesday marked his first full training session in almost two weeks.
“It’s good to be back out with the team and getting those reps in,” he said.
His teammates were thrilled at his return, not only in San Jose – where they were short-handed on the back line with a groin injury to Todd Dunivant and the yellow-card suspension of Dan Gargan – but at practice.
“It’s very good after all he’s been through,” midfielder Marcelo Sarvas said after training. “We’re going to be with him. I think we can show also as a group it’s more than inside the field we’re there for him. He’s been here six years and everybody’s trusting him.
“It’s very good to have him back.”
Associate head coach Dave Sarachan said having DeLaGarza back in the field could serve as a source of inspiration in some respects.
“It’s great to have him back. He’s a great guy,” Sarachan said. “Throughout this whole ordeal and the process it’s been a real bonding experience for the group. When you’re missing someone and they come back from something like that you can feel whole again.
“I think there’s always periods in a season that are rallying points, whether it’s a comeback or playing a man down. But in a case where you’re supporting a grieving teammate, it can be an all-for-one kind of feeling the rest of the way.
“If he can get through that, we can get through anything.”
DeLaGarza, who earlier told LA Galaxy Insider Adam Serrano he wished he “had more of an impact” against San Jose, said it always was his intention to return for the Earthquakes game and the absence of Dunivant and Gargan had no influence on his decision to play. Head coach Bruce Arena and staff supported him 100 percent in whatever he chose to do, DeLaGarza said.
He said the reception from friends, teammates and even rivals – the Earthquakes, for example, were one of several teams to hold a moment of silence before recent games – has gone “above and beyond what I expected,” DeLaGarza said.
The 26-year-old defender said he won’t be lacking in motivation now.
“I never took plays off before, but I’ll never take a play off now,” he said. “I’ll always have someone above watching over me.
“That’s pretty special.”
