The reigning MLS MVP Carlos Vela will be sidelined with a Grade 2 MCL injury in his left knee, LAFC head coach Bob Bradley said today. Vela will miss the remaining five matches in the Black & Gold’s phase one restart and will be evaluated on a week-by-week basis.
Vela suffered the injury in the 56th minute of LAFC’s 2-0 loss to the Galaxy on Saturday. The 2019 Golden Boot Winner dribbled into the box and wound up to take one of his standard high-powered shots on net. As he planted with his right foot, he left knee twisted awkwardly, and Vela limped away once his shot was blocked. A few minutes later he would exit the match.
“It’s a Grade 2 MCL [injury] that we see in football many times, and we just have to evaluate him week-by-week. Carlos is disappointed and would have really preferred to be with the team in Orlando, but the circumstances with his family came first," Bradley said of his record-breaking attacker. "He was excited for the match [against the Galaxy]. Whenever you’re playing your first match in five months is never easy, and it ends with an MCL [injury].”
Now LAFC will be forced to play once again without its captain, who missed the five games in the MLS Is Back Tournament in July to stay in Los Angeles with his family and pregnant wife.
“Carlos is by nature a really positive guy. Somebody that comes in everyday with a smile, always really good with his teammates. Even with the difficult news, it’s the same Carlos. He’s always engaged with the players and what we need to be thinking about as a team – all qualities that make him so special to us all,” LAFC head coach Bob Bradley said. “But the way we train and the way we prepare is to be a good team when Carlos isn’t on the field, and we have had some moments when that is the case.”
Not only will LAFC be moving on without Vela, but 2019 MLS Best XI midfielder Eduard Atuesta remains on the sidelines due to a foot injury picked up in the quarterfinals of the MLS Is Back Tournament following a collision with teammate Dejan Jaković.
Including the recent matches in Orlando, the dependable Vela has only missed 12 MLS regular season matches in three seasons, and LAFC has gone 5-5-2 in those games, including a 3-1-1 stretch in 2018 when Vela was with Mexico in the World Cup. Including two U.S. Open Cup matches in 2018 that Vela missed, and the entire MLS Is Back Tournament, LAFC overall is 8-5-3 without their captain and has now scored a formidable 30 goals in those 12 regular season MLS games.
With or without Vela, the LAFC offense has proven to be prolific. Without him, the Black & Gold totaled a league-high 16 goals in the MLS Is Back Tournament, led by Tournament Golden Boot winner and Best IX performer Diego Rossi.
Without Vela in the lineup, Rossi took over from the start, exploding for a combined 10 goals and assists, winning the Golden Boot with seven goals.
“Diego is a stud and he’s been an absolute baller for us,” Jaković said. “He’s starting to show everyone what he is capable of doing.”
The 22-year old was named the MLS Is Back Young Player of the Tournament, and with Vela missing time again, he will be asked to continue his scoring binge.
“We’re lucky, we’ve got a lot of talented attackers,” Bradley said. “Now when you take [Carlos] away, that does challenge others to step up. We’ve seen that happen before - we see other players raise their levels. That is how a team works, and we’ve had experiences where that has been the case.”
MLS legendary goal score Bradley Wright-Phillips stepped up to the goal-scoring challenge for LAFC in Orlando, much as he has his entire career. The fastest player in MLS history to reach 100 goals, BWP became the first LAFC player in history to score in each of his first MLS matches when he did it at the MLS Is Back Tournament.
Wright-Phillips is healthy after a frustrating injury-plagued 2019 and scoring goals again. He is now seventh on the MLS All-Time goal scoring list with 111 career goals, sitting just three goals behind LAFC assistant coach Ante Razov to reach number six on the all-time scoring list.
“[Bradley Wright-Phillips] is still someone around the goal who has got special qualities,” Bradley said. “There is even more I think he can continue to add. So far, all in all, he's done a great job.”
Other attacking options remain Bryan Rodriguez, the youngest player in LAFC history to start a match and who opened his MLS scoring account at the MLS Is Back Tournament, and Adrian Perez, Danny Musovski, who made his MLS appearance in Orlando, and the versatile Latif Blessing.
Pancho Ginella started in central midfield in place of Atuesta on Aug. 22 vs. that Galaxy, and look for the young, talented Uruguayan to continue to be counted on to step up in the middle of the pitch.
