A thin-rostered Los Angeles Football Club responded to its recent dearth of wins and goals with a gritty performance and a touch of late heroics that resulted in a 2-1 road victory over Sporting Kansas City at Children’s Mercy Park.
The result vaulted the defending MLS champions, who had endured four straight league games without scoring, into a tie atop the Western Conference standings, and made LAFC the fastest club in MLS history to reach 300 total points.
“Everybody on that field gave everything they possibly had for LAFC tonight,” said head coach Steve Cherundolo, who started five players 21 years old or younger in LAFC’s customary 4-3-3 formation, including a front line – Stipe Biuk, Nathan Ordaz, and Mateusz Bogusz – whose average age was 20.
In the game’s second minute, Biuk, the Croatian winger who joined the Black and Gold in December, carried the ball through traffic and into the SKC six-yard box, only to have his shot carom off the leg of charging SKC keeper Kendall McIntosh and over the crossbar.
The first half would prove to be a tale of two goalie deflections, as Kansas City’s Alan Pulido drove a 17th-minute penalty kick off the gloves of leaping LAFC goalie John McCarthy that nonetheless nestled into the top corner to give the home side a 1-nil advantage. The penalty had been awarded following a VAR review of LAFC defender Denil Maldonado’s low slide into KC’s Gadi Kinda in the area.
Pulido found himself with another chance in the 26th minute, but LAFC midfielder Ilie Sánchez executed a nimble tackle from behind that squelched the threat and prevented a likely 2-0 halftime deficit for the visitors.
SKC’s back-four defenders (six years older on average than the Black and Gold’s starting forwards) held their opponents to just one shot on goal in the first half. But after the intermission, Cherundolo brought on forward Carlos Vela and defenders Jesus Murillo and Ryan Hollingshead, providing the CONCACAF Champions League finalists with renewed purpose and a subtle shift in tactics.
In the 48th minute, a Vela corner kick was recycled by teenage midfielder Erik Dueñas, who played it wide to Bogusz. The Polish national’s cross into the box was headed into goal by a leaping Maldonado, tying the game at one. The Honduran’s first-ever MLS goal offered redemption for his first-half penalty, which Cherundolo called “a challenge that doesn’t need to happen … he knows that.”
The Black and Gold nearly took the lead moments later when a Vela free kick was redirected off the bandaged head of defender Aaron Long (playing his 150th MLS game) and into the net, but Long was ruled offside.
McCarthy kept the game knotted in the 66th minute with a diving save on a left-footed Pulido curler. The stalemate lasted until the 90th minute, when Long reacted to a long pass from McIntosh (the SKC keeper) by spotting an onside Vela and executing a pinpoint pass on the volley that trickled in front of LAFC’s all-time goals leader, who found nothing but grass between himself and McIntosh. A single settling touch from Vela and a strike with his left foot nestled the ball into the back of the SKC net, giving the visitors a late 2-1 advantage and hushing the crowd of 19,410 while the 34-year-old Vela was embraced by three teammates (Biuk, Dueñas, and Yekeson Subah) who were still in diapers when he signed his first professional contract.
The road win seemed secured, but an ensuing attack from SKC culminated with a header into goal from midfielder Roger Espinoza. A video review, however, revealed that a foul had been committed on Long during the build-up, negating Espinoza’s goal and providing Cherundolo with a victory in his 50th match as an MLS head coach.
“This club is one of the best organizations I’ve ever seen,” Cherundolo said afterward, when asked about the six players he sent onto the pitch whose age hovers near the U.S. voting and drinking minimum.
“It’s very nice to finally win,” said Bogusz, the 21-year old who played the full 90 minutes. “Now we come back home happy and we keep working next week because Wednesday we have another game.”
NEWS & NOTES
- LAFC became the quickest team to reach 300 points in MLS history with the victory, reaching 302 total points in 174 total games.
- Including tonight’s match, LAFC is now 8-3-5 on the season for 29 points. LAFC sits in first place in the Western Conference, tied with St. Louis City.
- Defender Aaron Long made his 150th MLS Regular Season appearance.
- Defender Julian Gaines made his first MLS Regular Season and LAFC start.
- Forward Nathan Ordaz made his first MLS Regular Season and LAFC start.
- LAFC forward Yekeson Subah, who signed a short-term agreement from LAFC2, made his Major League Soccer debut, coming on as a substitute in the 77th minute.
LAFC will return home for another two-match week facing the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday, June 21 and Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday, June 24 at BMO Stadium. Both matches will kick off at 7:30 PM PT and will be broadcast on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV / ESPN LA 710 AM / 980 AM La Mera Mera.
