Friday 9 January 2015 10:43, UK
Eight years after one ex-England captain swapped a leading light of European football for a new football beginning on America's west coast, Steven Gerrard has followed in the footsteps of David Beckham by signing for LA Galaxy. Here's a look at what the Liverpool legend can expect to find from July...
Team-mates
Given the Liverpool legend is joining the team which has won the MLS Cup in three of the last four years, it’s fair to say that when Gerrard makes his first appearance in LA Galaxy colours he will take his place in the league’s benchmark team. Certainly, he’ll be familiar with his new side’s star striker, Robbie Keane, given the pair played together during the Irishman’s surprisingly brief six-month stint on Merseyside in 2008/09. Since making his own switch to the MLS in 2011, Keane has been a revelation, scoring 53 times in 84 games, and was voted the league’s most valuable player last term. “I'd like to officially welcome Stevie G to the LA Galaxy,” Keane wrote on his official Facebook page. “Great player and a great addition to the team. Here's to 2015 season and hopefully another title.”
Gerrard, however, won’t be lining up alongside the MLS’s record goalscorer and most decorated player in Landon Donovan after the American, who twice enjoyed successful loan stints at Everton, retired aged just 32 in December. Otherwise Gerrard, LA Galaxy’s third designated player, will join a ‘roster’ which features an array of 20-something American players, including former Leeds midfielder Robbie Rogers, who is the first openly gay athlete in the five major North American sports leagues.
Manager
In Bruce Arena, Gerrard will be managed by arguably the most well-known coach in US soccer. The 63-year-old New Yorker came to national prominence back in 2002 when he guided the national team to the quarter finals of the World Cup in Japan and South Korea, the result the international highlight of Arena’s eight-year stint in charge of the national team.
Having previously won the first two MLS Cups with DC United, Arena returned to domestic management after the 2006 World Cup, initially with the New York Red Bulls, before taking up his current position at then struggling LA Galaxy in 2008. Three subsequent MLS crowns have cemented his position as the pre-eminent coach in the league. On the prospect of managing Gerrard, Arena has said: “Stevie has the characteristics of David Beckham and Robbie Keane. He's a terrific player, he's of great character, great team-mate, great leader, so he'll complement our team in a very positive way.”
Stadium
Having spent his whole club career in England playing home games at a ground which was opened in the 19th century, Gerrard will now call ‘home’ a stadium which is little over a decade old. The venue formerly known as the Home Depot Center – a name which produced more than a little mirth in the UK when David Beckham joined LA Galaxy in 2007 - was renamed as the StubHub Center in the summer of 2013 after the signing of a new stadium sponsorship deal with the online ticketing company.
Whereas Anfield, befitting the era in which it was first opened, is surrounded by houses and in the heart of the community, LA Galaxy’s home is located 10 miles outside downtown Los Angeles and forms part of a 125-acre multi-sport facility which is also used for a multitude of sporting and music events.
Attendances
Whether or not influenced by the US national team’s performance at last summer’s World Cup in Brazil, the MLS enjoyed record attendances figures in 2014 as the league’s average gate topped 19,000 for the first time in the competition’s 19-year history. Premier League levels it may not be, but it does underline the continued growth of 'soccer' in the United States.
With a capacity at the StubHub Center of 27,000, LA Galaxy averaged a crowd of 21,000 last year, the third biggest in the MLS. But it’s Seattle Sounders who dominate as far as attendances are concerned with crowds of 43,000 regularly attending their home games.
Travel
Perhaps the single biggest culture shock for Gerrard will come in the form of how long it takes LA Galaxy to get from A to B during the course of an MLS season. While the league is nominally split into Western and Eastern Conferences, the sheer size of the United States means that the distances between clubs in the same region is regularly multiple hundreds of miles.
The furthest Liverpool will travel for a league game in 2014/2015 is the 187 miles to Southampton’s St Mary’s stadium, whereas the LA Galaxy’s shortest trip alone is 318 miles to the San Jose Earthquakes. But that journey is a relative breeze compared with the 2,500 miles LA Galaxy will travel when they play Massachusetts-based New England Revolution in May. The good news for Gerrard is that his arrival won't be for a further month.
