LAFC returns to MLS action with road game vs. Cincinnati
Scoring goals and securing points have been a collective effort for LAFC in 2022.
Led by Carlos Vela, the MLS single-season scoring record holder, and Cristian Arango, whose 16 league goals are more than any other player since he joined MLS in August last year, the diversity of players contributing to LAFC’s quick success has pleased first-year head coach Steve Cherundolo.
“We never try to focus on one player and I try to make a point of that,” Cherundolo said Friday. “If you look at all of the players who scored goals this year – and all of our goals this year have been a team effort – I’m a firm believer that we attack with 11 players and we defend with 11 players.
“I’m not too concerned with who’s scoring goals just as long as we as a team and an organization are scoring goals.”
A couple months into MLS competition, 10 players wearing Black & Gold have etched their names on the scoresheet. Vela leads the way with four of LAFC’s league-leading 17 goals, making him one of six players on the roster to contribute multiple finishes through seven
Today: LAFC at Cincinnati, 2 p.m., FS1
MLS matches.
Including Wednesday’s 5-1 U.S. Open Cup win over defending United Soccer League champions Orange County SC, LAFC’s shared productivity expands to 12 players who found the net.
“We’re not overconfident but we are confident in our work and our teammates,” said Arango, whose brace in the Open Cup match gave him four goals in his previous three appearances. “We know the quality of our teammates. We want to give each other confidence and this gives us results.”
Returning to the MLS schedule today, LAFC (5-1-1, 16 points) travels to its third Eastern Conference site to meet FC Cincinnati (2-4-1, 7 points) at TQL Stadium for the first time.
LAFC defeated Cincinnati 2-0 at the Banc of California Stadium in 2019 in their lone previous encounter. FCC is 2-14-1 (26-1 at home) against Western Conference opposition since joining MLS in 2019.
Tasked with slowing down the best team in MLS, first-year head coach Pat Noonan asked his players to be a “brave and disciplined team.”
“What we’ve talked about is stepping up to the occasion,” said Noonan, who served as an assistant with Philadelphia the previous four years. “And not just stepping on the field and having the energy, but having the quality and finding ways to succeed and finding ways to win a game against a good opponent.”
Noonan’s group entered the weekend 12th in the East, scoring eight times while conceding 14. Forward Brandon Vazquez’s five goals, a career high that includes three finishes with his head, are tied for the league lead.
“It’s a team that has improved greatly in transition,” Cherundolo said. “A coach who prides himself in the transition game. He comes from an organization that does that very well. We will be prepared. Especially away from home. It is not the place to concede goals on the counter.”
LAFC’s depth could be tested during its third match in eight days. Center back Mamadou Fall is unavailable due to yellow card accumulation. Forwards Brian Rodriguez and Ismael Tajouri-Shradi, who smashed the goal of the week in a 3-1 home win last Sunday over Sporting Kansas City, are out with leg injuries.