LAFC limps to top of Western Conference
It has been a rough month for Los Angeles FC. After losing the CONCACAF Champions League final in early June, the team failed to win three games in a row and needed a last-minute Carlos Vela strike to seal a victory over lowly Sporting Kansas City over the weekend..
Nerves were running high, then, when LAFC faced Western Conference challengers Seattle on Wednesday night. Both teams began the season fighting for the top spot in the West; both are limping through the summer with poor results amid massive injury crises.
The game was a tight, closely run affair, but it was first-place L.A. that pulled through to win, 1-0, and take the three points. The team prevailed thanks to a Mateusz Bogusz goal that was anything but, ah, bogus. He slotted home from distance in the first minute after receiving a gorgeous blind back-heeled assist from Kwadwo Opoku.
“It’s very nice to score goals, of course,” Bogusz told the media after the match, “but the most important is the team. I’m very glad we got three points at home because it’s been a long time.”
This win positions LAFC back atop the Western Conference standings, leapfrogging Seattle and St. Louis. It’s a relief for LAFC fans who have been disappointed in recent results, but as coach Steve Cherundolo admitted there is more to be done.
“Can we play better football? Absolutely, and we will,” Cherundolo said. “I think the textbook discipline, and the awareness and effort, is back.”
LAFC will face Vancouver and Dallas before its all-important clash with local rivals the L.A. Galaxy on July 4. They’ll hope to hang on to first place — and score plenty more Bogusz goals — in the process.
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