Saying he predicted it might be a stretch. But Christian Ramirez definitely constructed his first LAFC goal before the opening whistle of his first start with the Black & Gold.
It came less than 15 minutes into the match at home with Real Salt Lake. No, it wasn’t the first ball Ramirez put in the net that day, but it was the one that counted. And the recognition of the goal-scoring opportunity between him and Carlos Vela happened so quickly, it was almost instinctive.
It turns out, it was actually planned.
In the press conference after the match, Ramirez let reporters in on the secret. The center forward revealed he told his teammate to find him in that exact situation on the pitch.
“Credit to Carlos, he played an incredible ball into me. We talked about that specific play numerous times throughout practice and in warmup. Just to look for it,” Ramirez said after the match. He fired it in, and I got on the end of it.”
At this point in the season, with Ramirez arriving via a trade 10 days prior, those two had maybe a handful of training sessions together. Yet somehow, they forged an understanding that came to fruition in a moment’s notice on the pitch. Makes you wonder what weeks, months, even a season or more of training and building that understanding could do, not just for Vela and Ramirez, but a whole squad of players.
With the re-signing of Walker Zimmerman on Tuesday and the subsequent return of Danilo Silva and Dejan Jaković a day later, LAFC is bringing back 18 members of its inaugural squad. And in returning that core, a season after setting the standard for first-year teams in MLS, the Club is asking that exact question: What can this group of players achieve with a full season under their belts?
“I think in Year One, one of our main objectives was setting out the type of team we wanted to be. I think we’ve succeeded in that regard. And now, the idea is to become a more complete team, which would have been impossible in one year,” LAFC GM John Thorrington said. “We identified some weaknesses, some areas of improvement. We certainly project the players that we had here with this year under their belt in our system and in our environment, the turbulence of expansion having now been a thing of the past, we feel really good about the projection of an improvement of all the players that have been here.”
In Zimmerman, LAFC returns an elite defender in his prime years. At just 25, Zimmerman has six years of MLS experience and has been a regular for the U.S. Men’s National Team over the last year. The ability to bring a domestic central defender of that level back as a continuing cornerstone of the side is something only a select few MLS sides can boast – the closest analog being what Supporters’ Shield holders New York Red Bulls did this offseason in re-signing Tim Parker.
Of course, rejoining Zimmerman, Silva, and Jakovic are the likes of Vela, Ramirez, Diego Rossi, Steven Beitashour, Tyler Miller, and Latif Blessing. All were major contributors to an LAFC side that was one match from claiming the Western Conference’s top spot in 2018. Had the final 30 minutes of the match in Kansas City gone differently, ask yourself if it would be prudent to break up the core of a team that captured the top spot in the conference.
That’s not saying the parts on hand couldn’t conceivably get better. If you aren’t making your players better, especially your younger ones, then what are you spending so much time on the training ground for? The return of Mark-Anthony Kaye is a major plus. The Canadian midfielder progressed like his long strides on the pitch with each week before being cut down with a season-ending injury. And the ability to give midseason additions Adama Diomande, Lee Nguyen, and André Horta a full preseason together with the squad primes LAFC’s core to become greater than the sum of its parts.
“We set out to see if we could bring a really strong nucleus from the first season. We worked really hard to establish ideas in our football and guys felt very, very good about the way we play and the improvement throughout the season,” head coach Bob Bradley said going into the start of preseason training. “But to get to the top level, that work has to go from one season to the next. There’s got to be a real sense that it carries over and gets better and better as the understanding grows and as players continue to improve. It’s nice that we’ve got so many guys we can start up with again.”
While the vast majority of the team are returnees from 2018, that’s not to say LAFC haven’t been busy upgrading in certain areas. Less than a month after the season ended, 21-year-old Colombian center back Eddie Segura was secured on loan with an option to make the deal permanent by LAFC. Segura marshalled a backline and captained the side the last couple of years and is considered a long-term talent with experience beyond his years. The Club then traded former No. 1 overall selection João Moutinho to Orlando City in exchange for left back Mohamed El-Munir, a defender with the set of skills and physical attributes many feel fit seamlessly in Bradley’s system.
Working off a long-term vision from the start, the LAFC staff always had intentions to bring back the team’s core but made no secret of their willingness to upgrade in areas if necessary. But for a team tied with the fifth-most points in MLS last season, it’s important to consider that any additions have to be of a certain quality. Hence, the relatively unchanged look of the squad.
Don’t get it twisted though. That’s not to say Thorrington and his staff see LAFC’s finish last season as satisfactory.
The arrival of Segura and El-Munir acknowledge LAFC’s need to improve in order to reach the pinnacle, while also recognizing the best teams always tweak around the margins of their squad - to embark on completely reimagining the squad with a slew of additions would essentially be starting from Year Zero once more.
Besides, it’s almost a truism in football across the globe that sides routinely changing four or more starters from season to season historically struggle. Take MLS Cup holders Atlanta United. They’ve made a lot of noise this summer with the possible arrival of Pity Martinez. However, the move is likely as a direct replacement for the loss of their catalyst in Miguel Almiron. And prior to that, 2016 and 2017 MLS Cup finalists Seattle and Toronto had 13 players unchanged in both finals – it would have been more were it not for the injuries to Clint Dempsey in 2016 and Ozzie Alonso in 2017, while Jordan Morris, Nick Hagglund started the 2016 final but were substitutes a year later.
But I can already hear the murmurs. Sorry to spoil some of the narratives out there, but despite some inclinations towards wholesale changes, the underlying stats just don’t paint that picture.
In 2018, LAFC finished with the fourth-best Goals For in MLS and were 12th in Goals Against. As raw stats go, that combination is above average but not elite. As it usually does, a look at the advanced stats deepens the overall picture for LAFC (advanced stats are generally considered to be more reliable predictors of performance than the raw numbers, if you’re interested in how these stats are calculated, I’d recommend this primer). According to stats from American Soccer Analysis, LAFC’s Expected Goals For in 2018 were fourth-best in the league, while its Expected Goals Against were sixth-best in MLS.
Those numbers on both sides of the ball are congruent with LAFC’s finish as a Top 5 team in MLS last season. And more importantly, they strengthen Thorrington and Bradley’s commitment to sticking with the foundation they established last season.
Following LAFC’s defeat in the 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs, I spoke with Thorrington about the Club’s attitude toward challenges. At the Club’s lowest point emotionally in 2018, Thorrington was unflinching in his description of LAFC’s mentality going forward.
“In the difficult times, our answer is not to change,” Thorrington said. “It’s to become better at what we do.”
With its core in place, LAFC is well-placed to face whatever challenges are ahead in 2019.
