Tag: LAFC

LAFC beat LA Galaxy 3-2, El Trafico remains the best thing in U.S. men’s soccer

The LA rivalry never, ever fails to deliver

There’s nothing quite like Major League Soccer, and within MLS there’s nothing even remotely like El Tráfico.

LAFC and the LA Galaxy always deliver utterly wild games, and their Western Conference playoff clash was right up there with the best of them. A back-and-forth match saw LAFC — who took the lead three different times — pick up a stoppage-time winner from Cristian Arango to emerge 3-2 victors.

The pre-game story was about who wasn’t there. Gareth Bale was left out entirely for LAFC, while Juventus legend Giorgio Chiellini ended up playing roughly three minutes as a last-gasp substitute.

This being El Tráfico, though, something bonkers was sure to come along to change the subject. Fortunately, Riqui Puig delivered just 12 minutes in, in the strangest fashion. Puig burst into the LAFC box and went down under very modest contact. He wasn’t going to get a call, and Jesús Murillo was pretty displeased with the former Barcelona midfielder’s pursuit of a penalty.

Murillo offered some harsh words. Puig? A headbutt…or at least an attempt at a headbutt? Fox Sports 1 never got a truly conclusive angle of Puig at least  making a solid attempt at shutting Murillo up with his forehead.

Referee Allen Chapman had a huge choice to make, and opted to ignore the whole “that’s a headbutt” side of things, giving Puig a yellow card and the Galaxy a huge break.

With the game properly amped up in the overheated tradition of this particular rivalry, it was time for goals. Despite spending much of the early exchanges fending off long spells of Galaxy possession, LAFC broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute. It was their best sequence of the half by far, as LAFC connected over a dozen passes before Carlos Vela produced a splendid through ball. Slashing between the center backs, Dénis Bouanga had no trouble firing past Jonathan Bond.

Still, the Galaxy were looking confident, and got level through their rivalry ace Samuel Grandsir. The French winger has taken plenty of flack from Galaxy fans for a lack of production, and for good reason. Against anyone other than LAFC in 2022, he has a meager two goals and three assists.

Against their biggest rivals, though? Grandsir entered the match with one goals and four assists in three total meetings this year, and picked up another goal by smashing home after Eddie Segura’s poor clearance attempt fell to him.

The tempo seemed to drain out of the game at halftime, though it was probably just El Tráfico taking a break before coming back for the big finish. Things stayed weird, though, especially when Vela signaled for a substitution tracking back from a corner kick. Once Steve Cherundolo moved to bring Kwadwo Opoku on for him, there was confusion as the captain seemed to want to stay in, and then very reluctantly trudged off.

Normally that would be a massive storyline, but with what was to come, it will likely end up forgotten. First, LAFC took the lead through Bouanga, who tapped in at the back post after Ryan Hollingshead’s low cross was glanced to him by Opoku’s lunging touch.

The Galaxy needed a goal desperately, but in Dejan Joveljić they had the best player for the situation. Already an MLS record holder thanks to his eight goals as a substitute in 2022, it took the Serbian striker just 86 seconds after subbing on to tie things up.

Victor Vazquez tried to slip Chicharito in, and Joveljić actually appeared to intercept the pass. However, instead of helping LAFC, he just sized up his angle and curled a tremendous shot past Maxime Crepeau to tie things up in the 85th minute.

But this is El Tráfico, and if there’s time for something to be wild, it’ll be wild. LAFC won a corner kick three minutes into stoppage time, and Kellyn Acosta’s back-post service found Bouanga unmarked at the back post. Bouanga tried to sneak in a shot to give himself a hat trick, and though Bond managed to react in time to keep it out, he couldn’t stop Arango from stabbing the rebound home, sending Banc of California Stadium into bedlam.

Watch all the goals from LAFC’s El Tráfico win

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MLS playoff brackets are set after Decision Day drama

Thoughts on every playoff pairing after Decision Day’s drama

It’s officially playoff time in MLS.

Sunday afternoon saw some high tension in the Eastern Conference that ended with Orlando City coming back to secure the final playoff spot over the Columbus Crew. For the Crew, a season of lost leads ended with Facundo Torres netting an 84th minute penalty kick, giving the 2022 US Open Cup champions a win they had to have to get into the playoff spot.

Fans then watched Minnesota United and Real Salt Lake win the race for the last two spots in the West, defeating the Vancouver Whitecaps and Portland Timbers in what turned out to be effectively an appetizer for the actual postseason. Minnesota largely held Vancouver to little en route to a 2-0 win in St. Paul, while the Timbers controversially dropped midfielder Eryk Williamson and were run over by RSL, falling behind by three goals before a very late goal gave them a more respectable-sounding 3-1 loss.

While the playoff dates and times are yet to be announced, we now know all 14 playoff teams, and what the first round looks like.

LAFC, LA Galaxy will open 2023 MLS season with El Tráfico at Rose Bowl

A big stage for both teams to start 2023 off with

MLS hasn’t finished its 2022 regular season, but that’s not stopping teams from announcing 2023 season openers.

LAFC and the LA Galaxy will begin their schedule next year by taking El Tráfico to the Rose Bowl, which will host the LA rivals on Saturday, February 25.

“This rivalry has, from day one, delivered an energy and electricity that together with incredible moments and memories on the pitch, has established it among the most engaging not only in Los Angeles but across MLS,” said LAFC Co-President & CBO Larry Freedman in a team statement. “It is only fitting that we are now taking it to one of the most iconic venues in all of sports.”

“The LA Galaxy are excited to write a new chapter in the storied soccer legacy of Los Angeles as we kick off our 2023 campaign against our intercity rival LAFC at the iconic Rose Bowl Stadium,” added LA Galaxy President Chris Klein in a statement from the elder club’s side of things. “We have a great history at the most legendary sports venue in the United States and know this will be a great spectacle for fans as we place one of the most exciting new rivalries in the world on LA’s biggest stage.”

Why a move to the Rose Bowl?

While various organizations that hold games there disagree on exactly how many seats are available at the Rose Bowl, that capacity is exactly why the teams would want to move. You could fit a sellout crowd from both the Banc of California Stadium and Dignity Health Sports Park into the Rose Bowl and still have plenty of tickets to sell.

The move also gives MLS a marquee match to lure fans over to their new broadcast partner, Apple TV. Typically, El Tráfico is one of the big draws for MLS, and one of the few games every year that seems to break through to the sports mainstream to any serious degree.

Given the Galaxy’s early history, when the Rose Bowl was their full-time home, it is fitting that the match will technically be a home game for the MLS original. The Galaxy played their first seven years (1996-2002) at the Rose Bowl before moving to Carson to the stadium now known as Dignity Health Sports Park.

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Gareth Bale has the best-selling jersey in MLS

It took just three months for the LAFC star to secure the top-selling jersey of 2022

Gareth Bale has only been a Los Angeles FC player since late June, but he has the best-selling jersey in MLS throughout the entire season.

The Wales star topped the list released by the league on Monday, which is based on overall retail sales of jerseys on MLSstore.com since the beginning of 2022 season through September 1.

Bale made his debut for LAFC in July and has scored two goals in nine games so far. The 33-year-old has started just one match for LAFC as he continues to build up his fitness.

Coming in second on the list of top-selling jerseys is Charlotte FC defender Christian Fuchs, who joined the expansion side prior to the season after a long spell at Leicester City.

Rounding out the top five were LAFC forward Carlos Vela, LA Galaxy forward Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez and Atlanta United forward Josef Martinez.

Top-selling MLS jerseys of 2022 season

1. Gareth Bale LAFC
2. Christian Fuchs Charlotte FC
3. Carlos Vela LAFC
4. Javier Hernández LA Galaxy
5. Josef Martínez Atlanta United FC
6. Raúl Ruidíaz Seattle Sounders FC
7. Karol Świderski Charlotte FC
8. Xherdan Shaqiri Chicago Fire FC
9. Jordan Morris Seattle Sounders FC
10. Walker Zimmerman Nashville SC
11. Valentín Castellanos New York City FC
12. Sebastián Driussi Austin FC
13. Lucas Zelarayán Columbus Crew
14. Cristian Roldan Seattle Sounders FC
15. Diego Fagúndez Austin FC

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Jesús Ferreira and Paul Arriola caught LAFC asleep at the wheel

A heads-up play turned the tide of a high-profile MLS matchup

Saturday night’s high-profile showdown between FC Dallas and LAFC was turned on a heads-up play from FCD that made the visitors look a bit foolish.

Dallas trailed 1-0 late in the match despite a 13th-minute red card for LAFC defender Ryan Hollingshead, with Chicho Arango’s goal the difference for the first-place visitors.

But everything turned in the 78th minute when LAFC’s Franco Escobar was whistled for a foul on Marco Farfan on the edge of the box. Escobar vociferously protested the call, which prompted his teammate Jesús Murillo to come over and try to calm him down.

In the meantime, Paul Arriola made quick eye contact with Jesús Ferreira, who slowly began drifting into the pocket of empty space that Murillo had vacated.

The result? A quick free kick, an opportunistic finish, and the game’s tying goal. Minutes later, Ferreira would score again to give the home side a 2-1 win. The USMNT forward reached 18 goals on the season, which tied a franchise record.

“We have that chemistry inside the field and outside the field,” Ferreira said of Arriola in a postgame interview on FCD’s local broadcast. “Whenever we can see each other and sense each other, we know that something’s going to come. So once I saw him pick up the ball, I knew that there was going to be a play and then I got on the end of it.”

Watch Ferreira’s opportunistic goal vs. LAFC

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El LAFC de Carlos Vela está que arde y promete campeonato

Con el triunfo del martes, ya van siete partidos consecutivos que gana el LAFC.

El LAFC de Carlos Vela está que arde.

El martes por la noche el LAFC ganó 1-0 ante el D.C. United. El gol se logró gracias a una asistencia de Carlos Vela, rematada por Kwadwo Opoku para terminar en el gol que le dio al equipo angelino el triunfo.

Con el triunfo del martes, ya van siete partidos consecutivos que gana el LAFC. Esto implica que el equipo no ha perdido un solo partido desde el pasado 2 de julio, cuando los Vancouver Whitecaps los derrotaron 1-0.

Carlos Vela sin duda lleva una importante racha. Actualmente el LAFC se ubica en el primer lugar de la de la Conferencia Oeste de la MLS con un total de 57 puntos.

Su rival más cercano por el primer lugar, Austin FC, se encuentra a 9 puntos de alcanzarlo.

Sin duda esta temporada pinta muy bien para Vela y su LAFC. ¿Se está perfilando el campeón de la temporada?

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MLS Madness spreads nationwide as league breaks goalscoring record

MLS was, even by MLS standards, completely bonkers Saturday night

Summer in MLS can be a rough time. You’re too far away from the real pressure of making or missing the playoffs, it’s hot and humid everywhere, teams are figuring it out after transfer window moves. It can feel very much like everyone’s biding their time for September and October.

Not August 6. MLS Madness™ took hold in nearly every corner of the country, with goals galore, teams scoring and conceding in the deepest depths of stoppage time, big-name stars scoring bangers, and everyone basically went bananas. It was a perfect advertisement for the league: fun, flawed, weird, and inexplicable.

For one thing, MLS broke a league record for goals scored in one night. Across 13 games Saturday night, teams combined for 57 goals, an average of well over four per game. The old record of 46 was left in the dust.

As the league itself once said, This Stuff Kicks!

In chronological order, let’s go through one of the wildest nights in MLS history:

Leagues Cup superó asistencia que el propio Super Bowl

Gran ambiente en la ciudad californiana para presenciar a cuatro equipos muy queridos en la región: Las Chivas del Guadalajara, las Águilas del América, Los Angeles Galaxy y el LAFC.

La doble jornada de la Leagues Cup en el SoFi Stadium de Los Angeles tuvo mejor asistencia que el Super Bowl LVI con 71 mil 189 personas comparadas con las 70 mil 48 personas que vieron el duelo de campeonato de la NFL.

Gran ambiente en la ciudad californiana para presenciar a cuatro equipos muy queridos en la región: Las Chivas del Guadalajara, las Águilas del América, Los Angeles Galaxy y el LAFC.

© Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

El morbo por ver de nuevo a Chicharito frente a la camiseta del Guadalajara hizo que miles de aficionados poblaran al menos la mitad del inmueble con camisetas de las Chivas, sin embargo el equipo no pudo responder a las expectativas, sigue en picada y cayó por 2-0 ante el Galaxy que tuvo a su delantero mexicano estrella en el terreno de juego.

Por su parte el América y el LAFC hicieron lo propio y de nueva cuenta fue el equipo local el que se llevó el triunfo en un partido mucho más equilibrado que terminó 0-0 y en la tanda de penales fueron los de Los Angeles los que sacaron el triunfo.

El ambiente inmejorable demostrando el éxito que está siendo la Leagues Cup que enfrenta a equipos de la MLS contra los de la Liga MX, una rivalidad que comenzó en selecciones con el Clásico de Concacaf y que poco a poco se empieza a trasladar a nivel de clubes con partidos importantes entre equipos de ambas ligas.

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Gareth Bale is off the mark in MLS

The Wales star scores his first MLS goal in just his second appearanceal

Gareth Bale scored his first MLS goal in just his second appearance, netting Los Angeles FC’s second on the night against Sporting Kansas City on Saturday.

Bale made his MLS debut last weekend when he came off the bench at Nashville SC, and the Welsh star again came on as a substitute against Sporting KC.

During a counterattack in the 83rd minute, Bale got on the end of a pass from Chicho Arango and cut onto his favored left foot before drilling a low shot past John Pulskamp.

The goal gave LAFC a 2-0 lead, which would end up being the final score.

WATCH: MLS is live on ESPN+!  Get ESPN+

Bale is looking to quickly integrate with LAFC’s star attacking duo of Arango and Carlos Vela, and he told reporters after the game that the chemistry between the trio is already coming along nicely.

“It was always going to take some getting used to play with new players. I think we understand each other very well. Good forward players always work off each other and know where to be off the ball and on the ball,” Bale said of Vela and Arango. “They’ve been amazing since I’ve been here. They are both great players and hopefully we can keep gelling and score a lot more goals together.”

Watch Gareth Bale’s first MLS goal

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Gareth Bale insists he’s not joining LAFC as a rent-a-player

The winger hinted at staying with the MLS outfit through 2024 and beyond

Gareth Bale is well aware of the perception of his transfer to Los Angeles FC.

Join a MLS club, make a little money, play a few games and, most importantly, stay in shape for a shot at glory with Wales at the 2022 World Cup. After that, there wouldn’t be much reason for Bale to stick around for a whole lot longer.

But at his introductory press conference on Monday, Bale insisted that he is in it for the long haul with LAFC, bringing up the possibility of staying through the 2024 European Championship, or even the 2026 World Cup.

“It’s not just a short thing, as I said. Also [it] gives me the best opportunity to keep going to the next Euros, maybe further,” the 32-year-old said.

“So my plan is to really work hard. It’s a great physical team, medical staff, performance staff at the training ground. We’ve got a great plan going forward to get me up to speed and hopefully last as long as possible.”

When Bale departed Real Madrid as a free agent at the end of the 2021-22 season, there was speculation that he would retire if Wales did not reach the 2022 World Cup. After the Welsh did in fact reach Qatar, Bale was on the hunt for a new team.

But the winger dismissed any notion that he’d be looking to hang it up after Wales completes its World Cup run.

“Of course I’m up for everything here. I’m still 32, like it says on the board, 33 at the end of the week, so I still have many years to come,” he said. “I haven’t come here just to be here for six months, 12 months. I’ve come to try to be here as long as possible. I want to do as well as I can and I want to try and make my mark on this league, on this team.”

Bale signed a 12-month contract with LAFC through 2023, with an option for a further season. He could make his club debut at Nashville SC on Sunday.
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