Omar Gonzalez in action (LA Galaxy/Robert Mora)

The peak seemingly came last November when Gonzalez and his teammates shut out the Houston Dynamo, 1-0, to win the MLS championship. To top it off, the 24-year-old Gonzalez was also named the league’s top defender.

“I was on a high,” Gonzalez says. "That was something I’d been working on since I got to the league. As a team, we were looking to win championships and we got to that point.”

And it had been a quick rise for Gonzalez since the Galaxy drafted him in the first round of the 2009 MLS Super Draft. The ex-Maryland Terrapin became an automatic starter in head coach Bruce Arena’s back line and earned MLS Rookie of the Year honors in his first season. 

But when he could have plateaued, Gonzalez kept climbing. 

In January, Gonzalez secured an initial two-month loan move to FC Nürnberg in Germany. The Bundesliga club announced it had plans to sign Gonzalez the following summer, but decided to snag his services over the short term to fill a hole in defense.

Gonzalez said the move to Europe was something he had hoped for since winning the MLS title.

“I always knew that it was in the works, but I was concentrating on the season,” he says. “And then once we won I started focusing a lot on...trying to get overseas.”

And then, in a split second, the rollercoaster fell – hard and fast.

In his very first training session with Nürnberg, Gonzalez tore his ACL after colliding with fellow American Timothy Chandler.

Despite the freak circumstances, Gonzalez says he shoulders some of the blame for the injury. After leaving U.S. Men’s National Team training camp to secure the loan deal, Gonzalez says he didn’t prepare for life with his new team the way he should have.

“I trained too fast. I should have just taken an extra day or two to get my body acclimated to the time difference,” he says. 

Despite the setback, Gonzalez says he was never disappointed, only “annoyed.”

“I know what I did wrong and you just move on and try not to make that same mistake,” Gonzalez says.

But moving on required moving back to Los Angeles. He started an intensive rehabilitation that Gonzalez says isn’t over yet.

“Even though I’m playing game in, game out – there’s times when I don’t feel all that great,” he says.

But Arena says he’s pleased with the way Gonzalez has slotted back in to the team since returning to the lineup on July 4 in a 2-1 loss at Philadelphia.

“He’s getting better. It’s a process. He’s going to take some time, but I think he’s starting to feel a little bit more comfortable,” Arena says.

And the same can be said about the Galaxy defense. Since Gonzalez came back, the team has allowed only 11 goals in its 16 MLS and CONCACAF Champions League matches. But over the previous 19 games in the same competitions, the Galaxy gave up 29 goals.

That’s not all down to one man, but the 6-foot-5-inch Gonzalez has provided a strong spine to the defense over the past three and a half months. 

But Arena says there’s more work to be done.

“We’re not as good as we were last season now on the defensive end, but we’re getting better,” he says.

While Gonzalez has helped the Galaxy turn their season around and earn a playoff spot, there’s one goal he's failed to meet since getting injured.

The defender admits that he wanted to make the national team roster this month to face Antigua and Barbuda and Guatemala in crucial World Cup qualifiers. 

But Gonzalez says he understands coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s decision.

“They needed to win both of these games and they don’t need players that are questionable,” he says.

He’ll have another chance to make the team in February when the final round of qualification begins. 

Until then, Gonzalez says he’ll continue his rehab and try to get back to the heights of last season. The Galaxy will try to do the same during the MLS playoffs, but it won’t be easy. 

The team’s 2-2 draw with first place San Jose on Sunday means L.A. will finish fourth. Now a one-game playoff at home against Vancouver is on the cards at the end of the month.

Should the Galaxy emerge victorious from that match-up, they’ll have to face San Jose once again in the first round. That’s no easy task considering L.A. has yet to beat the Earthquakes this season. 

But if Gonzalez and the Galaxy continue to improve defensively, there’s no denying the talent is there for a deep playoff run. If that happens, it would be easy to describe the team’s season the way Gonzalez sums up his journey back up the hill to fitness.

“It’s always moving forward.”