Jose Cifuentes’ goal in the 69th minute, combined with stellar goalkeeping from Tomas Romero, making just his third start of the season, was key for LAFC, as they picked up a huge three points on the road courtesy of its 1-0 result at Rio Tinto Stadium.
“A hard fought team win,” said LAFC head coach Bob Bradley. “Some big plays, not a night where we found good fluidity, not our best football by any means, but our mentality was very good.”
The win is LAFC’s first on the road this season. More importantly, the three points earned in Saturday’s match leaves them in a three-way tie with Minnesota United and the Houston Dynamo for fifth place in the Western Conference.
Cifuentes started and finished things for LAFC in the 69th minute. Cifuentes passed to Kim Moon Hwan at the top of the penalty area, Kim then passed to Carlos Vela, who was already inside the box, Vela then back-heeled a ball to Eddie Segura, who then played a cross and Cifuentes charged in and blasted the shot past keeper David Ochoa far post to put LAFC back in front.
Real Salt Lake had several chances themselves in the match, but the efforts of LAFC keeper Tomas Romero prevented RSL from coming out of this match with any points. Salt Lake had a corner kick in the 30th minutes, Albert Rusnak sent the corner to Pablo Ruiz, who then volleyed from about 30 yards out, but Romero calmly stopped and collected the ball. RSL had two great chances early in the second half to grab the lead, the first coming in the 57th minute, as Rusnak dribbled for the penalty area, deked to evade the LAFC defense, then fired a shot just outside the penalty area, but Romero again made the stop, parrying the ball over the endline. RSL had another opportunity six minutes later, as Rusnak took a ball from Andrew Brody, played a cross in and Maikel Chang took a shot at the penalty spot, but again, Romero made the stop and the ball was eventually cleared out of the penalty area. Salt Lake had a chance to get back level two minutes after Cifuentes’ goal, but it was Segura that prevented that from happening. Rubio Rubin got behind the LAFC backline to chase down a long ball sent by Aaron Herrera, Rubin tried to chip a ball over Romero, but Romero got a piece of the ball, and while the ball continued forward, Romero’s deflection bought Segura enough time to swoop in and clear the ball over the end line.
“First one kinda caught me by surprise because it was moving, but I adjusted well, second one was maybe a little more easier than it looked, and the third one, I didn’t even think about it, my hands just went up and I saved it,” Romer said.
LAFC’s three match road swing concludes on Wednesday, as they travel to Texas to face Austin FC.
