This is a story about how Gabriel Pec and the Galaxy got their grooves back.
For Pec, the Galaxy’s spectacular 23-year-old winger, the change started last February, when he left Brazilian club Vasco da Gama, the only team he had ever known.
“At Vasco there was a lot of pressure,” he said through a translator. “We had to tackle all the time. My passion is dribbling the ball, passing the ball, assisting, goals.”
For the Galaxy, the change also came when Pec left Brazil for Carson. Through the past seven seasons the team had done very little tackling, dribbling, passing or scoring, losing more games than they won and getting outscored by 53 goals. With Pec, they won 19 games for the first time in 13 years, matched the franchise modern-era record for goals and came within a tiebreaker of their first regular-season conference title since 2011.
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And that leaves the Galaxy needing a win Sunday over Minnesota United to reach the MLS Cup semifinals for the first time since the middle of the second Obama administration. It’s been a stunning turnover, one neither Javier “Chicharito” Hernández nor Zlatan Ibrahimovic managed to accomplish in their time in Carson.
But if Pec’s arrival brought success for the Galaxy, for the player escaping the strict style of Vasco it brought something more important. It rekindled a joy for soccer he hadn’t felt since he was a young boy playing on the dusty streets outside Rio de Janeiro, and that joy has paid off with 16 goals and 14 assists. Only three players in franchise history — Cobi Jones, Robbie Keane and Ibrahimovic — have had more regular-season goal contributions and Pec did it in his first year, earning the league’s newcomer of the year award.
“Because of the pressure, the way that we played is a bit different,” he said of his Brazilian club. “So coming to the Galaxy, this is who I am. I have so much joy. I’m so excited to play every single game. I’m really having fun.
“Here I have the freedom to play soccer.”
Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said the difference is noticeable. And infectious.
“I’ve seen the evolution on the field,” he said. “When he…