The shoe was on the other foot on Saturday night. After scoring with less than a minute on the clock against Seattle in midweek, LAFC found itself down a goal two minutes into its match with the Vancouver Whitecaps. Twenty-one minutes later, the deficit was two.
Twice on the night, LAFC was within a goal of its opponent. But despite the spirited effort, the outcome never seemed in doubt.
“I’ll just start by congratulating Vancouver. They had the right gameplan for tonight, made some plays, and we made one too many errors,” Steve Cherundolo said after the match. “Anytime you concede three goals at home, it’s hard to win. And in the end, you don’t deserve it.”
The loss was a disappointing end to LAFC’s most congested stretch of the season – eight matches in 24 days. Cherundolo’s team will have a week to prepare for its next opponent for the first time since late May. It’s just a brief respite, though. The Black & Gold kick off a mini-gauntlet of five matches in 14 days before finally getting a much-needed breather in mid-July.
Here are the Takeaways from LAFC’s 3-2 defeat to the Vancouver Whitecaps:
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Good Gameplan
Vancouver Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini surprised nearly everyone with his lineup choices to start the match. Taking into account his international absences, Sartini started center forwards Brian White and Sergio Córdova and pushed Designated Player Ryan Gauld to left wingback.
While peculiar at first, in hindsight it was the right combination for the night.
Faced with his own lineup challenges due to the Gold Cup, injuries, and fixture congestion, Steve Cherundolo started Ilie Sánchez at center back instead of his usual position at the center of LAFC's midfield. While forced upon Cherundolo, the move wasn’t without precedent. Sánchez played 22 times at center back for Sporting KC in the 2021 season.
For Vancouver, moving Gauld out to the left touchline provided important solutions against LAFC. Away from the tight spaces at the center of the pitch, Gauld was a more readily available outlet in space for his teammates. Once on the ball, the Scottish playmaker’s game was simplified into receiving and picking out his target men in the box against a depleted LAFC backline.
Gauld finished the night with one goal and two assists.
Looking For Advantages
Thanks to Dénis Bouanga’s goal just before halftime, LAFC started the second 45 minutes with renewed life.
Through the positioning of Carlos Vela and Mateusz Bogusz, the Black & Gold pushed Vancouver back into its own half and presented serious problems for its back three. Cherundolo rearranged his midfield, sitting José Cifuentes next to Daniel Crisostomo at the base and allowing Bogusz to pick up positions closer to Vela on the front line.
The resulting shape was akin to a box midfield for LAFC. Vela and Bogusz frequently dropped off Vancouver’s back three, coming short to receive from teammates. The tactic was two-pronged in its effect. The midfield pair of Andrés Cuba and Alessandro Schöpf frequently found themselves outnumbered 4 – 2 in midfield, while the Whitecaps center backs had to decide whether to stay tight to Vela and Bogusz, freeing space in behind, or allow the duo to receive between the lines, giving them time to pick a pass.
More often than not, Vancouver’s center backs chose the latter. Vela and Bogusz exploited the space between the lines by carrying the ball at the heart of the Whitecaps’ defense, while Stipe Biuk and Bouanga exploited the edges of Vancouver’s narrow backline.
Ultimately, the two-goal hole and mistakes were too much to overcome for LAFC. But the adjustment provided a well-worked foothold on the match in the second half.
Silver Linings
There’s really no way to spin conceding three goals at home. The loss was LAFC’s second at BMO Stadium in the 2023 MLS season. The Black & Gold lost just two matches at home all of last season.
However, there were a few good signs for the near future:
- Dénis Bouanga scored his 11th goal of the season and first in five matches.
- Carlos Vela scored his sixth goal of the season.
- Bouanga and Vela scored in the same match for the first time in 2023.
- Timothy Tillman played 10 minutes as a substitute against Vancouver, his first MLS minutes since May 20.
The club will need heightened performances from all three of those players over the MLS season’s second half if it hopes to win the West.
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