Every year, the Major League Soccer preseason brings an opportunity for players and coaches to reflect on the past year and prepare a successful path forward for the new one. On Monday, March 8th, the real on-field preparation will begin.
LAFC will officially begin preseason training camp on Monday, March 8 at the LAFC Performance Center, although the majority of the players are already on site and conducting voluntary workouts throughout this week.
The Black & Gold is set to return 21 players from last season, and the roster currently sits at 26 players. This offseason, the Club acquired five players: goalkeeper Tomas Romero, defenders Marco Farfan, Kim Moon-hwan, midfielder Raheem Edwards and forward Corey Baird. LAFC also announced that all three 2021 MLS SuperDraft selections have been invited to the start of camp.
The players that make it through camp have a lot to live up to. Since entering the League in 2018, LAFC leads the League in total regular season wins (46) and points (161). Last season, LAFC also became the first-ever MLS team to defeat three Liga MX teams in the knockout stages of the Concacaf Champions League en route to an appearance in the 2020 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Final, while also boasting the first back-to-back Golden Boot winners in League history (Carlos Vela, 2019 / Diego Rossi, 2020).
“It’s the same as always for this Club. We've set out to be a club that competes with a goal of winning any competition we are in,” LAFC Co-President & General Manager John Thorrington said. “So, certainly we are focused on getting back to the consistency we showed in 2019 and elevating this group back to where we believe it belongs both in MLS and in any other competition we enter. Last year we were consistently inconsistent, and that is contrary to what we were the year before. In 2019, every time we stepped on the field you knew what you were going to get from our group. Getting back to that is certainly at the forefront of our minds for 2021.”
This is a busiest time of year for LAFC and MLS front offices, as the MLS Primary Transfer Window opens March 10 and will stay open through June 1, almost a month longer than in years past. The Secondary Transfer Window opens on July 7 and closes on August 5.
Primary Transfer Window: Wed., March 10 – Tues., June 1, 2021
Secondary Transfer Window: Wed., July 7 – Thurs., August 5, 2021
The transfer windows are the periods in which MLS teams can officially register any new players who were previously under contract with clubs based outside MLS and for which an International Transfer Certificate (ITC) is required. While deals may be agreed upon outside these windows, the transfer and receipt of an ITC are required in order to officially add a player to a roster, thus allowing him to be eligible for official competitions.
All in-season trades between MLS clubs must take place within these transfer windows.
Los Angeles Football Club 2021 Training Camp Roster
Goalkeepers: Pablo Sisniega, Kenneth Vermeer, Tomas Romero
Defenders: Tristan Blackmon, Erik Dueñas, Marco Farfan, Jordan Harvey, Kim Moon-hwan, Tony Leone, Jesús Murillo, Diego Palacios, Eddie Segura, Mohamed Traore, Chinenye Chidera “CC” Uche
Midfielders: Eduard Atuesta, Latif Blessing, José Cifuentes, Bryce Duke, Francisco Ginella, Mark-Anthony Kaye
Forwards: Corey Baird, Raheem Edwards, Danny Musovski, Kwadwo Opoku, Alvaro Quezada, Diego Rossi, Christian Torres, Daniel Trejo, Carlos Vela
