Things have changed for LAFC, and not in a good way.
The magic that enabled LAFC to be one of the best teams in MLS for its first two years in existence has clearly faded, and the San Jose Earthquakes rammed that point home on Sunday afternoon. First half goals from Nathan Raphael Pelae Cardoso and Javier Lopez, both assisted by Cristian Espinoza, paced San Jose, and while the Quakes kinda shot themselves in the foot with an own goal, they were able to overcome the mistake and earn a 2-1 win at PayPal Park.
“There’s no doubt that we are frustrated as a group,” LAFC head coach Bob Bradley said. “Too many results where we do not find a way to not come out on top.”
The loss leaves LAFC in a bind with three months left in the regular season. LAFC dropped to the seventh and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Even more precarious for LAFC, its hold on that spot is brittle, as LAFC is only two points ahead of the Quakes, FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake for that spot.
“It’s been tough for the moment,” Blessing said. “We need to tell ourselves that it is not over. We have more games to go. We need to set up ourselves to play good and win game by game. That is the mentality we need to have and keep going.”
The Quakes got on the board in the 11th minute. The Quakes had a free kick from the left side outside LAFC’s penalty area, Espinoza sent the set piece into the penalty area towards the near post, and Pelae Cardoso stretched out his left leg and just managed to get a touch on the ball, and his effort may have prevented keeper Tomas Romero from making a play on the ball. Nevertheless, the ball crossed the goal line to put San Jose in front. The Quakes got goal number two in the 28th minute, as Espinoza capitalized on a poorly headed ball from Diego Palacios and sprinted for goal. Espinoza got inside the penalty area, deked Triston Blackmon, and apparently saw Lopez trailing from the center lane, because Espinoza then played a ball towards the penalty spot and Lopez swooped in and buried the shot into the back net to widen the Quakes lead.
The only bad news for San Jose was that they were scoring goals even for LAFC. That happened in the 39th minute, as Carlos Vela sent a free kick into the penalty area, Triston Blackmon just missed a potential header, as the ball sailed over him by inches, the ball went off the head of Quakes midfeilder Jackson Yueill, but it went the wrong way, as the ball got past San Jose keeper JT Marcinkowski into the back net. LAFC did have one great chance at an equalizer in the 65th minute, as Blessing received a ball from Francisco Ginella, maneuvered past two Quakes defender to get open just outside the six-yard box, Blessing fired the point-blank shot, but Marchikowski came through with the save and Yueill punted the ball out of the penalty area.
“Early in the game that is where they (San Jose Earthquakes) had the advantages and as we pushed back into the game I saw improvement but we did not do enough to get to the second goal,” Bradley said.
Sunday’s game did see the debut of forward Christian Arango for LAFC. Arango got the start despite his signing having been announced on August 2 and having a week to receive International Transfer Certificate (ITC) and P1 Visa. Arango played 68 minutes before being subbed out for Raheem Edwards.
“It was bittersweet because of the loss,” Arango said of his debut. “We will push forward together to get good results. This is a hard and intense working team. We will continue hard to get wins.”
LAFC hopes the good results start coming next Sunday, as they will head east to face Atlanta United next Sunday in a nationally televised match.
