LOS ANGELES— The LA Galaxy are Western Conference Champions and heading back to MLS Cup.
Savor that for just a moment. Done? Okay, good.
The Galaxy advanced to the MLS Cup for the fourth time in six years and ninth time—a league record—in club history past Seattle Sounders FC thanks to Juninho’s 54th-minute away goal that tied the series 2-2 on aggregate.
There have long been conversations and whispers from fans and media about what a team does after they win a trophy like this and thanks to the unprecedented access that LAGalaxy.com provided team photographer Robert Mora, we have an insight into that celebration.
Upon leaving CenturyLink Field, the Galaxy immediately headed to the airport to return home to Los Angeles.
Despite a brief delay that held their charter at the airport nearly 90 minutes longer than expected, the team let their collective hair down as they took a few hours to bask in their Western Conference title
The two-and-a-half hour flight was a wild one as players danced, sang—add potential Billy Joel impersonator to one of Landon Donovan’s post-soccer career plans—, and enjoyed every moment until the team eventually landed at LAX around 1 a.m. Monday morning.
Waiting for them at the airport were more than 100 fans who anxiously sat at Atlantic Aviation into the early morning hours simply waiting for the chance to thank their heroes for the jubilation that they experienced hours earlier. One by one the players drove by honking their horns and stopping to high five fans to thank them for their support.
Once the last car had passed, the fans finally had their moment with the silverware as Cozmo, the LA Galaxy mascot, dashed out of the terminal holding the Western Conference trophy. As Cozmo lifted the trophy aloft, members of Angel City Brigade, LA Riot Squad and the Galaxians sang to the Galaxy’s victory.
Time will only tell if they’ll be singing late into Monday morning.
