Galaxy fans cheer on their team in the Western Conference Finals. (Emily Wilson)

Coming into Sunday's Western Conference Finals as the heavy favorite, playing against FC Dallas (a team they’d already beaten twice during the regular season) and just one more victory away from the MLS Cup, they were unable to score. 

FC Dallas shut them out in a 3-0 rout that should have, for all intents and purposes, left the crowd stunned and silent. But that was anything but true.

Those at the Home Depot Center were alive with the vigor of a crowd twice its size.

In a section for fans that call themselves the Angel City Brigade (ACB), the intensity lent itself to constant participation through standing, chanting, singing, drumming, flag waving and dancing all the way until the bitter end.

No fans in that section left early. None got angry. All continued to cheer, supporting their team, celebrating the regular season success and the playoff run. Rather than dwell on the loss, many are already looking to a new chance at overall league supremacy in 2011.

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The ACB has been in existence since 2007. On their website it says:

“In other countries, supporting your club is a way of life.  We look to create that same type of culture here in Los Angeles.”

They’re certainly doing their best.

In a country where soccer continues to stubbornly gain ground (but never quite grasp it), any effort to cultivate that foreign-land-futbol passion is a good thing for the sport.

Each fan that entered the ACB section on Sunday got a sheet with the lyrics to every need-to-know chant and song. But hardly anyone referenced his or her sheet. It was obvious these fans knew every word by their Galaxy-loving hearts.

Led by an appointed maestro, the ACB section carried on in a continuous riot of those drum-driven sing alongs, linked-arm celebrations and yells of Spanish-language curse words when referee decisions were looked upon with disgust. 

The fan participation expected at soccer games is simply not expected at most other American sporting events. And that makes going to a professional soccer game interesting, exciting and really, really fun -- especially when sitting in such a passionately involved section of the stadium.

If ACB is any indication of the type of group enthusiasm for soccer that can be fostered in just a few short years, it’s encouraging to imagine the kind of fervor that will accompany the sport in the future. 

Note: The Galaxy season is over, but the MLS Cup isn’t. FC Dallas will face the Colorado Rapids in the final this Sunday at 5:30 PT on ESPN.