LAFC fans were the first group of soccer fans in the United States to get their first look at Christian Pulisic on Tuesday night.
By Ivan Yeo
On this night, the score didn’t matter much.
On a Tuesday night at Banc of California Stadium, LAFC got a chance to measure themselves against one of Germany’s top clubs. LAFC hosted Borussia Dortmund in a match that saw all kinds of opportunities. For LAFC, it was a chance to give extended playing time to players that have rarely featured regularly during the season. Also, American soccer fans got a chance to finally see in person one of the rising stars in international soccer, a player it can call its own in Christian Pulisic.
In the end, both LAFC and Borussia Dortmund put on a show for the 22,000 sellout crowd. Both teams provided plenty of quality soccer, so it was only fitting the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
“I thought there were a lot of good stretches, and it’s an exhibition, so we don’t read into it, but we appreciate the opportunity of playing against a good team,” LAFC head coach Bob Bradley said. “Most guys will tell you, it was a hell of a lot more fun than just training this morning.”
After 76 minutes of up-and-down action, but no goals to show for it, LAFC got the first strike in the 77th minute. Lee Nguyen held a ball on the left side of Dortmund territory, played a ball to Jordan Harvey, who immediately touched it back to Nguyen just inside the penalty area. Nguyen crossed into the six-yard box, Kovar slid and shot a ball that hit off keeper Dominik Reimann and went into goal and LAFC fans erupted.
“It was awesome. I haven’t really played too much, so it was good to get some minutes and get
back to it,” Kovar said. “The coaches pointed out how many minutes each person was going to play. We knew Carlos [Vela] was going to come out at 20 or 25 minutes.”
LAFC held the lead late in the match, but just when it looked like victory was imminent, Dortmund got one last shot at goal. Marcel Schmelzer dribbled up the field, played a ball to Mahmoud Dahoud, who took a few touches before playing a ball to Maximilian Phillip just outside the penalty area. Phillip took a couple of touches himself before firing off a volley towards goal, Miller dove and got his hands on the ball, but not enough to prevent the ball from going into goal at the inside net.
LAFC took the game to Dortmund early in the first half. LAFC got its first chance in the 13th minute, as Diego Rossi sprinted down the right-hand side of the field into the penalty area and played a back pass to a trailing Eduard Atuesta, who took a shot right on target, but starting keeper Roman Weidenfeller parried the ball over the crossbar. A minute later, Tristan Blackmon played a dangerous cross into the six-yard box, but a timely slide tackle by Jeremy Toljan sent the ball over the endline. LAFC’s best chance at goal came in the 31st minute, as he curled a ball past Weidenfeller for the far post, but missed by a mere inches.
In the second half, Dortmund finally started to show signs of life on offense. In the 53rd minute, Pulisic played a ball to Phillip, who fought off Dejan Jakovic’s challenge and got a shot off inside the penalty area that beat Miller, but did not beat the framework, as the ball hit off the far post. Phillip had another opportunity in the 70th minute, but his chance then was parried away by Miller.
Tuesday’s match was the first for Pulisic on American soil. The midfielder started on its usual right midfield spot and played 56 minutes before being subbed off to a standing ovation from the crowd. Aside from his near-assist to Phillip, Pulisic had a sequence where he cut inside after sprinting from the right and sidestepped several LAFC defenders looking for a sightline.
“I’ve always known that the soccer culture around this area in LA has always been really good,” Pulisic said about playing in LA. “I used to play youth national team camps here, and now that they have another team here, it’s awesome. Everything that I heard, I inspected today and it’s awesome.”
Its back to work for LAFC on Saturday night, as they host DC United in its final home match before the World Cup break.
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