Few clubs in MLS hold themselves in as high regard as LAFC. The Southern California outfit consider themselves to be atop the league’s food chain with the likes of Inter Miami, but their cloak of relative invincibility has seemingly ebbed away throughout the 2026 season.

Since 2019, LAFC have won an MLS Cup, two Supporters’ Shields, a U.S. Open Cup, and three regular season Western Conference titles. In the last decade, if you wanted to win major honors in MLS, you almost always had to go through LAFC on the way.

Yet as we head into the final weekend of the 2026 MLS regular season, the Black and Gold sit in 6th place in the Western Conference, 14 points shy of conference-leaders Vancouver Whitecaps despite boasting the highest wage bill in the conference and second highest in all of MLS with $32.7 million in total guaranteed compensation. So why have the generous resources failed to bear fruit this season?

We have to rewind back to the winter of 2025 when the club parted ways with head coach Steve Cherundolo, who lead the club to three major trophy triumphs between 2022 -2025. Cherundolo was, by no means, fired from his position, citing family reasons as the motivation to step down.

However, towards the end of his tenure in Los Angeles, questions began to arise surrounding the conservative style of play and if it could really produce the results expected of a star-studded LAFC squad in a league that has undergone a rapid tactical evolution in recent years. That deficiency was perhaps most apparent in 2023 when Cherundolo’s LAFC were soundly beaten in MLS Cup Final by a Columbus Crew side coached by forward-thinking head coach Wilfried Nancy. That Crew squad certainly had star names up and down the lineup, but it was their positive, system-first mentality that made them arguably the best MLS team in history. LAFC, meanwhile, relied on their stars to elevate a dreary style of play and carry them over the line with individual moments of brilliance. That expectation can only take you so far.

But with a chance to step into a new era as a club in the wake of Cherundolo’s departure in 2025, the LAFC hierarchy, lead by Co-President and General Manager John Thorrington, instead decided to play it safe and promote long-time Cherundolo assistant Marc dos Santos to the be the club’s new head coach heading into 2026. Suggestions that Dos Santos would only inflame issues surrounding the conservative style of play were vindicated quickly.

When Dos Santos was officially sacked in late September, LAFC ranked 24th in average possession, 15th in goals scored and 14th in expected goals. For a squad boasting the likes of Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga, that was far from acceptable in the eyes of, not only club decision makers, but fans alike.

In the months since interim head coach Xavi Tamarit stepped, things have not massively improved. Results have been inconsistent, the aforementioned stars Son and Bouanga have cooled off in front of goal, and LAFC have truly limped to the finish line. They will be in the MLS Cup Playoffs, but a November trip to BMO Stadium may not feel quite as daunting as it once did — just ask Minnesota United who rocked up and beat Tamarit’s side handily in the penultimate match of the season.

And while there has been turnover in key positions — the likes of Armindo Sieb and Leo Walta have given a fresher feel to LAFC’s attacking ranks — you can’t help but get the feeling that the core of the team that produced one of the most successful eras in league history could be on the verge of being blown up in the upcoming offseason. All of Hugo Lloris, Jacob Shaffelburg, Son Heung-min, Aaron Long, Ryan Hollingshead, Jeremy Ebobisse, and Nkosi Tafari will be out of contract by the end of the 2027 Sprint Season (some sooner than that).

Resources only take you so far if the decision making is lacking, and it has been for the LAFC hierarchy for a few years now. But should LAFC fans be looking for a silver lining, the end of an era means the start of a new one. What that new era looks like is yet to be determined, but if the club expect to be one of the real big boys in MLS, you can expect them to make some statements off the pitch in the coming months.