A.J. DeLaGarza Reflects on His Career and Looks to the Future | OneFootball

From his glory days with the LA Galaxy to his bright future as an entrepreneur and facility owner, we catch up with A.J. DeLaGarza for an exclusive interview. 

He’s won at every level that he’s played at, be it the youth, collegiate, or professional, and now A.J. DeLaGarza is crafting the next generation of soccer champions in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Born and raised in Bryans Road, Maryland to a Mexican-Chamorro father and Native American mother, DeLaGarza quickly became obsessed with becoming a soccer player. He immediately stood out at the youth level, playing for Dave Sarachan’s DC United U-12s at the Danone Cup in France and winning two USYSA National Championships with Baltimore Casa Mia Bays, before taking his talents to the University of Maryland, College Park.

DeLaGarza went from an attack-minded player to a defensive figure at UMD, leading the Terrapins to the National Championship in 2005 and 2008, and prompting interest from a number of Major League Soccer teams. The LA Galaxy selected him in the second round of the 2009 MLS SuperDraft, and DeLaGarza enjoyed a seamless transition to emerge as a starter at right back. He steered the club all the way to the MLS Cup Final, where it lost on penalties to Real Salt Lake.

“I obviously getting remember drafted there, and I didn’t know too much about the Galaxy at the time, except they had Landon Donovan and David Beckham,” said DeLaGarza in an exclusive Urban Pitch interview. “I didn’t know that they had come in last place and had given up the most goals the year prior to myself coming, but what I saw was an opportunity to go there and make a difference.”

While DeLaGarza was venturing into new terrain in the pro ranks, there were some familiar faces along the way to help him out.

“I had a coach who had believed in me,” DeLaGarza said. “I’d also played before with the assistant coach there, Dave Sarachan, while growing up in D.C., so he was familiar with me. I think it ended up being the perfect scenario and situation, and I remember on draft night getting a call. I don’t remember who it was that told me this — it must have been one of their scouts at the time — but he was like, ‘If you were just a little bit taller, we would have taken you earlier than 19th.’

“I know my size hindered me a little bit, but I still had a pretty good career for being a center back at 5-foot-8 and 130 pounds, so I can’t complain. It was a perfect scenario with a team that needed the help, and thankfully, I went in there with Omar Gonzalez. We already had that relationship from our time at UMD, and we just were able to continue building on that.”

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Despite his small stature, DeLaGarza was able to establish himself as one of the best defenders in MLS, leading the Galaxy to the MLS Cup in 2011, 2012, and 2014, and joining Cobi Jones, Kevin Hartman, Mauricio Cienfuegos, and Donovan as the only players to make over 200 regular season appearances for the club. He also made his mark at the international level, playing in two friendlies for the United States in 2012 before filing a one-time switch to Guam and spearheading them to their first two World Cup qualifying wins.

Following his time in Los Angeles, DeLaGarza spent time with the Houston Dynamo, Inter Miami CF, and New England Revolution, and retired following the 2022 season, having made 285 appearances across his career.

But he didn’t just make his presence felt on the pitch. After losing his first child to a congenital heart defect at one week old, DeLaGarza would channel tragedy into triumph by raising $25,000 to fund heart care and research, which saw him win the 2014 MLS Humanitarian of the Year Award and earn a payout of $5,000 to be donated to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and spcaLA.

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DeLaGarza has spent the past two-plus years raising his three kids in the Carolinas, working with different startup companies, working as a Match Director for MLS, and building his own project: The GoalDen, a state-of-the art, indoor, training facility in Charlotte.

We caught up with him to discuss his heritage, career journey, and new ventures.

Urban Pitch: Can you talk to me a little bit about your upbringing, first and foremost? There aren’t a lot of MLS legends who have Native American heritage. 

A.J. DeLaGarza: That was mostly on my mom’s side, Native American. My dad is Guamanian and Mexican, and my mom and her entire family grew up in Maryland. That is who I was surrounded by, whereas my dad was born in LA, so he didn’t really grow up with his family.

Yes, we had reunions here and there growing up, but most of the time it was holidays and weekends with my mom’s family, and what that entailed was going to powwows when I was little, which was really cool, and something that I wish that my kids could experience. I haven’t been able to find that yet, but I remember those core memories as a kid, going to the powwows in the headdresses, and doing the little dances with my family members and all.

Unfortunately, soccer took over eventually at a very young age, and what I was surrounded by on the weekends and weekdays in were soccer kids and soccer parents. I do feel like I lost a little bit of that culture, unfortunately, and I kind of want my kids to be able to experience that. That’s something I’m actually looking to try and find here where I live now.

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And just to clarify, you live in North Carolina?

I actually live in South Carolina. People ask me where I live, I say Charlotte, North Carolina, because if I told them where I actually live, they’d be like, “Where is that?” Literally, half of my neighborhood is Charlotte, and the other half is South Carolina. We’re super close to Charlotte. I’ve got to cross the border every day, but you don’t even notice that you’re crossing the state lines, honestly.

The only hard part is that two of my kids go to school here in South Carolina’s public schools, because we’re residents of South Carolina, and then my other daughter, who’s in pre-K, she goes to school in North Carolina. They have different weeks off, different spring breaks, different schedules, and that’s the hard part.

But other than that, you don’t really know you’re crossing over the border until your kids yell it out and say, “Oh, now we’re in South Carolina” because they see the sign. When we moved here, we were looking in the Charlotte area and fell upon a house right outside of Charlotte. We’re right on the border. I can get to Bank of America Stadium in 25 minutes.

Talk to me a little bit about having that chip on your shoulder of being such an undersized defender. What was it like having to adapt your game in order to compete against some of the best forwards in the game? Did you have any welcome to MLS moments in that regard? Do you feel like it was a learning process trying to make your size be not so much of an Achilles heel?

Yeah, of course. Again, you’re playing against men at that point, guys in their upper 30s, right? Guys that have played in World Cups, and have a lot of experience, and here I was as a rookie. I actually started my first-ever game, which was the first game of my rookie season, and I also wasn’t playing center back, so I was trying to learn a new position in a new environment at a top level.

It wasn’t probably until my second year where I had become a true center back for the Galaxy, and from there, obviously, we won a couple MLS Cups in my years as a center back, but I was kind of moved around as a utility player to fill in if somebody else was hurt on the outside.

“Let’s just put AJ outside, and then we’ll put somebody else in his spot in the middle.” It was a good experience, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

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What does it mean to you to be one of the only LA Galaxy players who have played at least 200 MLS matches for the club? Does that fill your heart with joy, knowing that you have a place in history with MLS’ most successful club?

Looking back on it, it’s a great feat, man. I just think about all the games that I did miss, and how much more I could have had. But yeah, I’ve prided myself on my work, and looking back on it, you’re like, “Man, I was rewarded quite a bit.” I was a part of a lot of successful teams with the Galaxy, and I played a lot of meaningful games every single year with the Galaxy.

From my rookie year, all the way up to my last season, I played more than half the games, and some of them I played 95% of the season. Looking at it now, I have the most appearances for any defender in Galaxy history, which sounds pretty cool, and then being fifth all-time behind some of the greats at the Galaxy is special, and something I’ll cherish. But certainly somebody will pass me up sooner or later. Hopefully that is the case anyways.

Another one of those players with 200 appearances, Cobi Jones just got himself a statue. Have you seen it? What are your thoughts on it? And, who do you think should get the next one?

I was invited to that, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to go out there. I’m happy for Cobi and what he meant to LA kids, but also the African-American kids as well. A lot of my former teammates were like, “I looked up to Cobi Jones because of who he was and what he represented,” and that’s pretty cool, the legacy that he had at the club, in the city, and the country.

He was a national team player who came back and joined LA to kickstart MLS, he was instrumental in the Galaxy’s early days, and the statue looks good. It looks way better than that fake Beckham statue from The Late Late Show With James Corden. It looks good, and as for the next one, I don’t even know. If it’s not Robbie Keane, I’m not sure who else it could be at that point. Maybe Cienfuegos would be a good one as well. I would say it’s between those two.

Lastly, what are the biggest things that you’re looking to get out of 2026? What constitutes a successful year for you?

I would say my facility being a staple in the community, and a place where kids know that they can come and develop, and a space where adults come and hang out and play soccer, no matter the level. I want to continue to grow that as a passion, and then also try and find more time for my family, because I am working most nights, so I do miss dinners.

I do miss the drop-offs to extracurricular activities, so my wife is going around doing a lot for our family, and I’m grateful for that and what she does. I think you ask any dad, they want to be around their kids, and be able to go watch things. Yes, I’m trying to run a business, and I understand what comes with that, but I think my family’s gotta come first as well.