LAFC is hoping to bring its own heat to Kansas City
Giorgio Chiellini thought muggy Nashville was too hot for competitive soccer following his debut with the Los Angeles Football Club last weekend.
The veteran Italian defender started and played an hour in LAFC’s 2-1 win, and if he gets time this evening at Children’s Mercy Park in Kansas City, Kansas, it stands to reason he’ll come to a similar conclusion. With a heat advisory in effect, the area’s heat index is forecast to top 105 degrees for the evening kickoff.
The blazing portion of the MLS schedule has quickly become a fact of life for Chiellini and fellow European star Gareth Bale, who played the final 20 minutes versus Nashville for his first appearance with LAFC.
From a competitive standpoint against the elements, the recent LAFC additions and their teammates, including newly acquired Ecuadorian midfielder Sebastian Mendez, are on equal footing with Sporting KC players. On paper and on the pitch, however, opposing clubs have been hard pressed to keep pace with LAFC in 2022.
Last place in the Western Conference and third from the bottom in the Supporters’ Shield standings, 22 points back of the Black & Gold (13-4-3), Sporting KC (5-12-5) will seek to avoid four consecutive regular-season home losses for the first time.
An MLS-low 19 goals scored to go with a negative-19 goal differential are indicators of how short the hosts have fallen off the standard established by first-year head coach Steve Cherundolo’s LAFC squad
– one of six teams in MLS history to accumulate 42 points or more after 20 games played.
Quick to credit players for impressive results and a positive culture in the locker room, “how well we play and how many games we win, they decide, not the coaches,” Cherundolo noted. “They are hungry and take care of that and we are really proud of them for that.”
After loaning midfielder Francisco Ginella to Nacional, the top club in his home country of Uruguay, to earn more playing time and replacing him with Mendez, a middle-of-the-park destroyer who adds useful depth, this week’s moves represent the latest steps by LAFC to improve.
“We cannot force teams into giving us players,” the coach said. “And we do not have other tools that other clubs do not have. We are working very hard and we are constantly communicating and watching and trying to improve the group. Sometimes opportunities present themselves and we can take advantage of those and I think we’ve done a good job timing-wise of taking advantage of those opportunities.”
Said Kellyn Acosta, a U.S. men’s international midfielder who was acquired by LAFC as part of a number of offseason acquisitions that added experienced MLS difference makers to the roster: “Everyone can see on the field that we really care about each other building this brotherhood. We joke around. We have fun. But we compete.”