Only 11 players on LAFC’s current first-team roster were on the squad that fell to the Columbus Crew, 2-1, in a rainy MLS Cup final seven months ago.
The Black & Gold’s lineup has seen some churn between that night and Saturday’s matchup against the Crew at BMO Stadium (7:30 p.m. PT; free on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, 710 AM ESPN LA, ESPN LA app, 980 AM La Mera Mera).
The Crew has also been around the block since lifting the league’s championship trophy last December. Columbus fought its way to the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup final last month before falling to Mexican side Pachuca – a journey that was nearly identical to LAFC’s path after it won MLS Cup in 2022.
There are other similarities between the two clubs, aside from the black in their kits – the main one being their presence near the top of the Supporters’ Shield standings since April.
But while the sting of losing that mist-drenched final in Ohio last year still lingers for some LAFC players, head coach Steve Cherundolo has moved on.
“We don't really talk about revenge against teams,” Cherundolo said at Friday’s post-training media session at the LAFC Performance Center. “The only time you really talk about what happened last time is really against your crosstown rivals. Other than that, this is an MLS match, there's three points on the line, it's against a very good team, a very well-coached team, a team who is true to their concept and has done a fantastic job, and they're in form of late. So we have a lot of work ahead of us for tomorrow. But it's a different circumstance than last year.”
LAFC forward and 2024 MLS All Star Denis Bouanga respectfully disagreed with the “revenge is not a factor” approach, calling Saturday night’s match “une finale avant l'heure.” (A final before its time.)
“There is revenge to take at home,” the famously competitive Bouanga added in his native French. “It's up to us to put in the ingredients to win this match and take our revenge. Especially because they won the cup at home. We want to take revenge and continue to climb the rankings.”
LAFC defender Ryan Hollingshead still holds on to that result in Ohio in December 2023. “I think as a team, we feel we all feel like we could do better. I think individually I could have done better. You're always just recounting, replaying thoughts in your head of how you could have beaten a team there. The hard part with us in this club, we just always have that pride of thinking we can beat anybody. And so when you lose a game like that, you're just kicking yourself thinking it's more about our mistakes than about getting beat.
“They played really well. They're a really good team. We've got a big test ahead of us tomorrow.”
THE MORE THINGS CHANGE
Hollingshead and Jesús Murillo are the only current starters in LAFC’s four-back alignment who started the final against the Crew in 2023. Meanwhile, the Crew’s five-back setup – center backs Steven Moreira, Rudy Camacho, and Malte Amundsen, and attack-minded outside backs Yaw Yeboah and Mo Farsi – hasn’t changed one bit.
“Omar [Campos] came in for [departed left back] Chiqui [Palacios],” Hollingshead said of LAFC’s situation, “but Sergi [Palencia, who played the final minutes of the ’23 final] and I have been here and been a part of the squad for a long time. So I think there's consistency there. I know that they've got more of a wing-back style of play, a five-back. Their outside backs, I don't know that you could even call them that.”
The main change for Columbus has been a recent one, in midfield. Aidan Morris, a Crew Homegrown who went the distance against LAFC in the final and lingered alone on the rainy pitch long afterward, basking in the victory, transferred two weeks ago to Middlesbrough F.C. in England.
“Things just change so quickly,” Hollingshead said. “Guys get sold and move on and new guys come in … which is a good thing – the league is growing and selling players and moving players on. I've been in the league for a long time and it's always a huge turnover every year. There's no way to get around that.”
Personnel adjustments aside, Hollingshead added, “our defense feels like it's the strongest it's been all year long. We've been holding teams to shutouts consistently, had a huge streak with no goals for a long period in early summer. We're really confident in how we're playing, but they've got a big-time attack and they're gonna come ready to fight.”
PRIDE OF POLAND
The Mateusz Bogusz who came on for the last 30 minutes of MLS Cup last December was a different player than the one who has recorded nine goals and five assists in his last 10 league games in 2024. The MLS Player of the Month in June, Bogusz owns a streak of 10 straight games with a goal involvement, an LAFC record and the longest such streak in MLS this season.
“I think you see a confident player,” Cherundolo said of the difference between Mati 1.0 and 2.0. “You see a player who is putting himself in position to finish plays and to score goals. We've always known he has the ability but he is now really adapted to our system as an attacker. Whether it's the wing or as the nine, he's figured out both positions and has put himself in a position to score. I think that's the biggest difference between Mati now and Mati last season … It's fun to watch him play.”
UP AHEAD
Among the other five teams in the top six of the Supporters’ Shield race (Cincinnati, Miami, RSL, Galaxy, and Columbus) LAFC will play all of them in the weeks ahead, except Miami.
After MLS and Liga MX take a break from their regular-season schedules [July 26-Aug. 25] to battle it out in Leagues Cup, things will get interesting.
“The stretch that comes after Leagues Cup – wherever that ends for us, after the first round or maybe after the final, who knows – that last stretch of MLS games that turn into the playoffs I think is where you start to see teams play more in a playoff style, every point, every goal, every minute counts,” Cherundolo said. “And that's when you start to see most organizations buckle down.
“Before Leagues Cup we have three more matches [including Columbus], two of them are at home and so we would love to win all three,” Cherundolo added. “But we wanna take as many points as possible in this little last stretch … and then we start thinking about playoffs in the last 7-8 games of MLS. So, it's really important to finish this first two thirds of the season in a positive manner, and if possible in first place [in the Western Conference].”
EUROS AND COPA
The French national team, and LAFC’s most recent DP signing, forward Olivier Giroud, fell 2-1 to Spain in the Euro 2024 semifinal on Tuesday. But Cherundolo said that LAFC does not have a specific timeline in place as to when Giroud will arrive in Los Angeles to begin his MLS career. “Players need their rest,” Cherundolo said. “We can't expect players to go 365 days a year. Olivier is experienced enough to know what he needs and we'll give him that time, but we obviously want him here as soon as possible.”
When Giroud arrives, he’ll partner with LAFC winger Cristian Olivera, whose Copa América run with Uruguay ended on Wednesday with a 2-1 defeat to Colombia in the semifinal.
LAFC (13W-4L-4D, third in the Supporters’ Shield Standings) hosts the Columbus Crew (11W-3L-6D, sixth place) on Saturday, July 13, presented by University of Phoenix. The match kicks off at 7:30 p.m. PT at BMO Stadium. It is available free on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, and can be heard on 710 AM ESPN LA, ESPN LA app, 980 AM La Mera Mera.
