Baggio Husidic & LA: The Dual Mystery

One of these guys is a grip. Might even be a key one.

Pop Quiz: If his name wasn't in the title, how many times would someone have to ask you to name a player for the Los Angeles Galaxy before you'd get to Baggio Husidic? For what it's worth, I think he'd be the 13th or 14th choice for most people, even LA's bigger fans.

Like Hollywood (to make an unfair analogy), I think LA has built its legacy by letting the stars soak up the adulation and gift baskets worth hundreds of thousands of dollars while the key grips (which, here, recalls Dan Gargan, A. J. DelaGarza, and even Marcelo Sarvas) hammers every last goddamn nail into the scenery behind them, the backdrop that lets that beautiful career exist, but, hey, no worries...

Still, what is a Baggio Husidic? I'll tell you who. He's a player with a charmed life, a guy who probably would (and, hey, actually did) die with the Chicago Fire, but who has started in the majority of the past three years' games for the Glamour Team of MLS. It only gets weirder when I tell you what he's not. For instance, he's not a strong tackler (and/or an actual risk to others like Nigel de Jong), he's not a devastating one-on-one dribbler (like, say, Sebastian Lletget), he provides neither goals nor assists in great numbers, he's not some brilliant deep-lying passer who shifts the field in novel, new directions: he's just...Baggio Husidic.

And yet he's seen the field in every game but one this season, and he's started 10 games of 18. If I had to guess, I'd describe Husidic's role like this: he's a player who facilitates (somewhat) close to goal by finding LA's "real" skill players; I'm guessing he participates in their high press, at least whenever LA's uses it, and I'm confident he's suited for that.

Los Angeles Galaxy 2015 Preview: Just...Good. Dammit.

The first video in search for "drunk on self-belief." That's it.

What Happened Last Year
Landon and Donovan, mostly. Jesus, did that story-line suck up a lot of the Los Angeles Galaxy's oxygen last year. I won't pretend I didn't follow it and absorb it (more), or even that I didn't choke up when Donovan broke the record(s) (link under "follow," I think), etc. Still, it's surprisingly easy to forget that LA kicked a lot of ass on the way to winning MLS Cup. By the end of the season, even into the playoffs, the Galaxy somnolently stumbled from one game to the next. Apart from the holy hurt they put on Real Salt Lake in the second leg of their playoff series, they didn't dominate clubs down the stretch; instead, it took only some minimum number of their players stirring just long enough to score the decisive goal. In that same spirit, LA surrendered the Supporters' Shield to the Seattle Sounders with a shrug. Cold-eyed confidence feels very much part of LA's culture; it's as if they know they'll win the next one. Sure, there were great moments – see, the rightly-celebrated 20+ pass build-up; Robbie Keane pulling a goal or two from his nethers, etc. – but this Galaxy team must have played one of the quietest all-time greatest seasons in sporting history. Very methodical, basically. Disturbing methodical. Nothing speaks to that as clearly as their goals for/against numbers.
Final Stats: 17-7-10, 64 points, 2nd in the East; 69 gf, 37 ga (both league best; tied on the ga)