2020 was a year of unprecedented challenges, and LAFC was not immune to the difficulties that have spread across the sports landscape, and the entire nation. In the time since LAFC bowed out of the MLS Cup Playoffs in Round 1 at the hands of the Seattle Sounders, executives at the club have been focused on having the tough conversations and reflecting on the season.
Despite the playoff loss, there were many bright spots in 2020, and now LAFC Co-President and GM John Thorrington gives his thoughts on the Black & Gold’s 2020 Season and the Club’s plans moving forward into next year. You can find the full Q&A below.
I’m asking this question first because the wounds are still fresh - I wanted to get your thoughts on the recent defeat to the Seattle Sounders in Round One of the MLS Cup Playoffs. This was the same club that bounced the Black & Gold from last year’s Western Conference Championship, but this year it was a defeat that embodied all of the challenges of 2020.
JOHN THORRINGTON:
“Yes, the wounds are still fresh, and it's tough when a season ends at any point. Any time we lose in the playoffs ends our season earlier than we’d like. Last year to Seattle as well as this year, and look, I mean it was disappointing. I think there obviously would be reasons that sound like excuses that you can point to as to why we didn't play as well as we can. Not having our four South Americans doesn't help. However, I think the real disappointment was, going into that game we still felt we had enough to go up there and compete against a very good Seattle team. We did in parts of the game, but ultimately it just wasn't enough on the night.
Anytime we get knocked out of anything, whether that's playoffs, U.S. Open Cup, whether it's the MLS is Back Tournament, it is hard - we go into everything trying to win it. Hoping to win it. Expecting to win it, and when we don't it leaves great disappointment.
Now, you mentioned a lot of what you saw last Tuesday was a snapshot of all that's gone wrong this year. We had the impact of COVID. We had guys that that were injured who couldn't play. We had guys that were injured that weren't able to train but were able to get through the game.
So, just us trying to piece together as competitive a team as we could to go and compete on the night was the focus. Again, being who we are and how we see things in ourselves, we were still thinking it's enough to go and advance, and unfortunately it wasn't.
I think huge credit has to go to Seattle. I would say, if you look across the league, they’re one of the few teams in 2020 who I think are better than they were in 2019. We have to look at why that wasn't the case in the league for us.
There was an understandable drop because of COVID and some other reasons that we need to analyze to make sure that we're not saying the same thing in 2021.”
This is a tough question, because it belies so many unprecedented challenges LAFC has faced throughout the year – but after a record setting year last season, one that saw LAFC earn the most points in a season, highest goal differential, earliest team to clinch playoff spot, tied for least losses on a season with four, among many other records, how would you grade the squad’s performance this year?
JOHN THORRINGTON:
“The easiest thing to say is we've underachieved, based on the expectations coming into this year. You mentioned the unprecedented challenges. There are reasons as to why we were not as good this year as we were last year. You can look at individual players. You can look at the collective group. We all need to do a deep analysis into what we all can do better to improve in 2021. We made some decisions last offseason in an effort to take a very good group and make it even better, and some of the frustration that is palpable around the building is what this year promised to be for this group, and it didn’t work out.
We saw with the start of our season [in Champions League] what we were hoping to achieve. I started off saying that we've underachieved in 2020 and it wasn't as good a year as 2019, but having said that – we played the best game of our history in February. That performance was better than any of the performances in 2019 (a 3-0 victory over Mexico’s Club León in the Concacaf Champions League on Feb. 27).
Now, we are not the type of organization that then just says ‘Oh well COVID hit, now let's turn the page.’ It certainly exposed some things that will now inform us how we need to get better for next year, but this year became a year of just trying to survive rather than improve upon what was an excellent season last year. And even within that excellent season we had some disappointments. We did not feel good about being knocked out of the playoffs last year.
So, how we approached the pandemic - I actually thought that despite the disappointing results overall, our performances in Orlando showed a lot of who we are despite not having the best player in the league and playing that tournament without Carlos.
The job is to assess exactly what happened in these few months after Orlando that brings us to where we are now, which is losing games that we wouldn't have lost last year. Not playing quite as well as we did last year. This is the same group that beat Club León 3-0. So, it's not all doom and gloom but we will take a real honest analysis as to how we can approach Champions League in the short term and then next year in the long term to make sure we get this club back to its winning ways.”
The Club as a whole was faced with unprecedented challenges both on and off the pitch throughout the 2020 season. In your opinion, how has it responded to these challenges?
JOHN THORRINGTON:
“As a staff and as a group of players, I don't question the commitment of the group - nobody here does. I think all of this required a lot of grace to extend to each other to understand just how difficult this pandemic is.
I was a 19-year-old when I played in Germany, and the thought of me being in Germany in a lockdown? Where for a large part of the year I couldn't even go train with my team, but then the best I could do was go and train for a short number of hours in the morning then go home and stare at the same four walls? I can't imagine what that would have done to me psychologically.
Players are not just what we see when they cross the lines and go play. They’re human beings, and so therefore everything that happens societally and personally, it affects them. So, I think there needs to be grace extended to players and how that can affect different players, different staff members, and I'm really proud of how the organization has responded in many ways.
Now upon reflection, we also need to look at the circumstances, and there is no manual for this. Nobody has ever been through anything like this year. There is no precedent or “manual” as to how to deal with it. So, we did the best we could without knowing what was around the corner. However, I think given where we are, having been knocked out of the playoffs and being the seventh seed in the Western Conference, we didn't do a good enough job in that regard. We do everything collectively, so all of us are responsible for that. Now I welcome the challenge of determining exactly what we need and how we are going to be better.”
What were your thoughts on some of the season’s high points? Arguably the best victory in the Club’s short history in its first international tournament comeback win over Liga MX side Club Leon, the first-ever LAFC Academy Homegrown signings, the Academy players earning starts and scoring goals. Talk a little about some of the positives on the year.
JOHN THORRINGTON:
“I think there were a couple of great performances this year. You mentioned the obvious one in the León performance at home. Others were the performance against the Galaxy and Seattle in Orlando. Then the emergence of some new signings and some younger talent that's come through, as well as the development of some players who started on that path in these past few years who matured and reached new levels this year. All of those things are real positives. It's certainly not all negative. We have an accurate picture as to what affected us and how we can therefore address it moving forward, but those performances certainly were highlights.
The emergence and the development of our Academy players: some of them have played more than others, but all three of them are really adapting well to training day in day out with the first team. Tony Leone, Erik Dueñas and Christian Torres have made great strides this year and we need to remember they’re 16 years old. I also think the signings of José Cifuentes and Pancho Ginella certainly helped strengthen our midfield; with COVID and various other reasons outside of our control we didn't see the full benefit of that in 2020, but that also certainly leaves us optimistic.
The year and the calendar made us try new things with new players and some really stepped up in a way that gives us a lot of excitement going forward. We signed two young African players in Mohamed Traore and Mahala Opoku through partnerships that we have made with academies in Africa that I think will bear fruit for many years to come. I think these two players will certainly become really good players and assets for us moving forward.
You saw the maturity of Diego Rossi winning the Golden Boot, the first time in League history that two teammates had won the Golden Boot in consecutive years, though Carlos would argue that had he been healthy we wouldn’t have that record. All of these things are a real positive.
We have another young player in Brian Rodríguez who is playing for a top international team in Uruguay. Diego got his first call up to the Uruguayan senior team.
I’ll also mention the emergence of Danny Musovski, who unfortunately through injury wasn't available in Seattle, who has shown can adapt and assert himself well in our league. We look forward to seeing what he'll do in 2021. So, there's still a lot to build on here and we have not lost sight of that.
We're not quite in the offseason yet because we've got important games coming up in a few weeks, but the important exercise now is to add another layer to our strong foundation in order to get better.”
Carlos Vela arguably had the best season in MLS History in 2019, but after injuries and other challenges that kept him out for most of the year, LAFC needed other players to step up in major ways. Talk a little about the importance of guys like Diego Rossi (2020 MLS Golden Boot, 2020 Young Player of The Year, 2020 MLS Best XI) picking up some of the offensive slack this year.
JOHN THORRINGTON:
“Well first, Vela last year I think was inarguably the best season in League history, it was just phenomenal. The stop - start nature of this season and then the injury, understandably we didn't have that this year from him. I think something that was not often spoken about with our team in 2019 was we were the youngest team in the League. Part of being a young team and getting better, is watching those young players mature year over year and take on more responsibility on and off the field. This year I think Diego is the best example of that. He went from a very dangerous attacking player to the Golden Boot winner.
Diego, for a young player, embodies adjectives that typically are used for players who are far more experienced and older than he is. His efficiency, effectiveness and his consistency are such high quality. To do what he's done at a young age, to adapt so quickly from Uruguay as he has in our first three seasons has been incredible. He's certainly a big part of anything successful that we do. And now that we have Carlos back healthy and we're getting our guys back it certainly will bode well for Champions League and for next year.”
In a year that saw the emergence of players like Francisco Ginella and Christian Torres move into more advanced roles, who has jumped out at you as far as their on-pitch development this year?
JOHN THORRINGTON:
“I think the three Academy players certainly have shown that in the short, medium, and long term they will be meaningful contributors to the team. They are showing signs that they have what it takes to succeed in MLS, something really gratifying to see in the fruits of the labor that's been going on since 2016 in our Academy. I give all the credit to the Academy staff and those players.
Both Pancho Ginella and José Cifuentes came in and out of the starting lineup, but both of them certainly are talented players that give us great depth across midfield. Then the two young African players, Mohamed Traore and Mahala Opoku, more recently when they had consistent training, you just see more and more of their qualities developing as young players that I think will lead to bright futures here for both of them.”
As we look back on the last three seasons, there was a major element that was missing at home this year with the absence of fans and the 3252. Coaches and players have discussed how strange it is to play at Banc of California Stadium without them being there – what are your thoughts on playing at the Banc with no fans?
JOHN THORRINGTON:
“I think it is something that everybody’s been dealing with. It's happened across all sports, this impact of not having supporters. I think the ultimate testament to our supporters and the environment that they create every time - and I mean every single time - we play at home, that difference of not having their support in person is felt far more starkly and has a far greater impact on us than any other team. I think our environment is the best, so therefore by definition, not having that environment is a bigger difference for our team.
Anybody that's been in our stadium sees the relationship our supporters have with our players in terms of motivating and energizing them. I’m hesitant to look for excuses, It’s no excuse to have any drop in performance, but, it’s hard to ignore the fact that not having our fans did impact our performance. Playing with no fans is better than not playing, but it is not even close to a substitute in our stadium and that's down to the environment created by our incredibly passionate and loyal supporters.
What I do need to add is one of the coolest moments for me this season, was that despite the pandemic, at our home games, I saw our supporters across the street on Figueroa. Where I watch games from up high at the Banc, I could see them during games, before games, after games, and them still finding a way to support the team and that was such a cool moment.”
Where are some areas of the squad that soccer operations are looking to specifically target / improve looking towards the 2021 season?
JOHN THORRINGTON:
“We are in the middle of making some really tough roster decisions that are a part of being in a cap constrained environment. So, we're in the middle of those and without going into specifics publicly as to exactly what those positions are, we've identified two to three positions where we think - whether it's for depth or starters - that we definitely can improve. We’re making the relevant and appropriate decisions now based on that plan moving forward. Exactly what those pieces are will be made clear in the months to come. We have a lot of really exciting conversations going on with players both domestically and abroad.”
Looking towards next season, do you see any further Academy signings or further first team incorporation by the three players already signed?
JOHN THORRINGTON:
“Other than the three we ended up signing, we had a few other Academy players join first team training in preseason. These three were the most ready when we made those decisions in July, but the others that came and trained with us are certainly in our plans and in the picture moving forward.
Exactly when and if that happens remains to be determined, but the guys that came in to train and play with us in January and February preseason - Diego Rosales, Armando Avila and Mauricio Gutierrez - those three are others we are monitoring. Unfortunately for them, the Academy season was decimated due to COVID, but those are another few that we have our eyes on. There's a lot of talent in those younger age groups too but it is a little bit too early to be talking about them.”
This will be a different looking offseason this year for the Club as it still has Concacaf Champions League approaching, along with remaining questions on the next season start date. Will you approach this offseason any differently?
JOHN THORRINGTON:
“I think we're really excited that, despite the disappointment of Seattle, we have some really important games to focus on now. The energy and the motivation around the group has been really good. You never quite know the emotional place of players immediately following a defeat, but our guys have been incredibly energized at the prospect of playing a tough game against a great opponent in Cruz Azul.
So, we have that game in the short term, but all the while we're on a concurrent path of what we need post Champions League. The vast majority of this group will be with us next year, and we will be looking to augment that with a few additional pieces.”
What are some of your biggest goals looking towards next year?
JOHN THORRINGTON:
“It’s the same as always for this Club. We've set out to be a club that competes with goal of winning any competition we are in. So, certainly getting back to the consistency we showed in in 2019 and elevating this group back to where we believe it belongs both in MLS and in any competition we enter. Thematically for us this year we were consistently inconsistent, and I think that is contrary to what we were last year. Last year, every time we stepped on the field you knew what you were going to get from our group. Again, a testament to the group and the job players and staff did last year, so getting back to that is certainly at the forefront of our minds.”
