Soccer Kings

It's pretty common knowledge that part of the LA Kings pre-game warmup ritual includes a soccer game in an obscure area of the current arena's event level, and the maintenance crew at Crypto.com Arena is certainly no stranger to repairing busted ceiling panels at the expense of a misplaced ball. But they don't use nets, so what are they actually playing? And are the players real soccer fans? With the conclusion of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in the rearview mirror, some of the Kings divulged their true fandom of European football.
"I think it was a good World Cup. One of the best finals I've ever seen for sure. A lot of upsets in the group stage, which is the usual, but kind of fun for the countries that win," said forward Adrian Kempe, who was originally rooting for Spain because of his Spanish roots. "Argentina ended up winning, that seems pretty fair, they played pretty good except the first game when they lost to Saudi Arabia but after that they were pretty good the rest of the tournament; they and Messi, I think, deserved it."

After Spain lost to Morocco in the Round of 16, Kempe was looking for Lionel Messi to take home his first World Cup title, which came to fruition this past Sunday when Argentina beat France, 4-2 on penalties. In NHL Hart Trophy fashion, Kempe picked Messi as his tournament most valuable player "only because I feel like [Kylian] Mbappe was probably the best player but I feel like the French team was too strong that even if he wasn't playing I felt like France would still be a top nation, but I feel like Argentina wouldn't be where they were at without Messi."
Kempe has been a soccer fan all his life and cheered for Liverpool in the English Premier League while growing up, and attended the 2018 World Cup in Russia to see his native Sweden play. Even now he still follows a team in Sweden whom he watches regularly and attends games for every summer. Sunday's World Cup final, which he watched at a Manhattan Beach bar with six teammates, was his most memorable moment from this year's tournament, calling the match "unbelievable."
At the start of the World Cup tournament forward Arthur Kaliyev wasn't hard-core cheering for any team, but eventually liked England to take the title. Like Kempe, he also followed soccer growing up in New York, and was a fan of the club teams in Europe, specifically in the Premier League. He also picked the final match as the best moment from the tournament: "That was cool - one of the sickest finals I've watched. It's usually not much going on, a little bit boring, but that was really entertaining."
Kings forward Carl Grundstrom, also from Sweden, is a big fan of Manchester United in the Premier League. Growing up, his favorite soccer players were Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, and although he hasn't yet attended a World Cup game, it's on his to-do list. Grundstrom was rooting for Brazil to take the championship this year, but, like his teammates, says the most memorable moment was the final because it was such an "intense game." The fact that the championship was decided in a penalty shootout was unique, and resulted in some mixed feelings for Grundstrom, who also picked Messi as his tournament MVP. "[It's a ] tough way to lose the final. I'm not a huge fan, but it's exciting to watch, so I'm fine with that," said Grundstrom, who grinningly admitted that he is the best soccer player on the Kings roster.
He may not be too far off-base, according to defenseman Sean Durzi, who is the self-proclaimed official ranker of Kings soccer players. He keeps a running list on his cell phone of his personal star-ranking system where he ranks every single one of his teammates' soccer abilities from one star to five stars, one star being the worst, and five stars being the best.
"Sewer ball" is their pre-game game of choice, where they have to keep the ball up in the air and whoever let's the ball drop is "out." According to Durzi, there are four five-star players: Kevin Fiala, Anze Kopitar, Grundstrom, and Drew Doughty - in that order. He does admit, however, that Doughty is more like 4.5 stars.
Durzi, who is looking forward to attending the 2026 World Cup when it comes to North America, watched this year's World Cup final from his living room couch with a homemade coffee, confessing that the 7 a.m. start time was a bit too early for him to make it to the bar.
"I'm Portuguese, and I live or die on Portugal in any world setting in soccer, and the most memorable and my favorite was probably Ronaldo's penalty shot. To see him score again, first player, five World Cups, that was cool," said Durzi of Ronaldo's penalty kick in Portugal's 3-2 win over Ghana, which made him the first man in history to net at five different World Cups.
While he does concede that Sunday's match was "probably the best World Cup game ever," he chose France's Mbappe as his tournament MVP. He was also in favor of the title being decided on penalty kicks.
"I liked it. I thought it was exciting. I mean, the game was awesome, but the pressure and everybody's watching just one shot each time, and one-on-one, that's exciting," said the 24-year-old Durzi.
Would he feel the same way if the NHL decided the Stanley Cup in a shootout?
"I wouldn't like it," laughed Durzi, without hesitation. "I mean, it's a little different but if you put the puck on the spot, and one-on-one with the goalie, maybe it would be cool…but the breakaway setting for a defenseman, probably not for me. I would rather just have overtime for everybody."
Durzi has no problem being honest about his self-appointed two-star soccer rating - 2.5 if he's being generous. But the burning question looms large - who are the one-star players? Durzi grins mischievously.
"Confidential."