LAFC for the most part rocked the Montreal Impact on Friday night.
By Ivan Yeo
LAFC scored goals in all sorts of ways on Friday night.
LAFC scored goals on set pieces, they scored goals against the run of play, and they even relied on a little bit of luck to find the back net against the Montreal Impact, and while the visitors made LAFC sweat it out in the end, LAFC still managed to come way with the three points following its 4-2 win over the Impact at Banc of California Stadium.
The win further improves LAFC’s position in the Western Conference, as the first-place club have a nine-point lead over second-place Seattle in the West. Still the three points were needed by LAFC, as two other teams currently in playoff position, the LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake, also picked up wins earlier in the day.
LAFC opened the scoring seven minutes due to a fortunate bounce. Montreal keeper Evan Bush had the ball and was preparing to punt the ball, Ramirez came in to apply some last minute pressure, and it worked, as Bush’s clearance not only went off Ramirez, but went into the back net for an unusual opening goal.
Turns out it was just the start for LAFC. In the 28th minute, Eduard Atuesta split the Montreal defense with a perfect through ball to Vela, who broke for goal and sent the shot past Bush into the back net to widen the lead. Three minutes later, superb passing enabled LAFC to cash in a third goal, Vela played a ball to Rossi in the penalty area, who sprinted from the right side, played a short cross into the six-yard box and Blessing touched a ball past Bush into the back net and just like that, LAFC was up 3-0.
LAFC continued to keep the pressure on in the second half, raising its lead to four goals in the 55th minute, as Tristan Blackmon headed in a Vela corner to further widen the gap between the two teams. Montreal however didn’t come all the way out to LA just to get blown out, and they attempted to make a game out of it late in the half. Montreal got a lucky bounce of their own in the 70th minute, as Bacary Sagna played Maxi Urruti into the penalty area, Urruti evaded Atuesta’s tackle, crossed into the six, the ball got past keeper Tyler Miller, went off defender Eddie Segura but trickled across the goal line for an LAFC own goal that got Montreal on the scoreboard.
Things got a little more interesting starting in the 83rd minute. Micheal Azira sprung Anthony Jackson-Hamel for a run into the penalty area. Walker Zimmerman trailed Jackson-Hamel all the way, but pushed him down from behind inside the box as Jackson-Hamel was going into shooting motion. The outcome was referee Armando Villarreal awarding Montreal the penalty and Walker Zimmer getting the yellow card. Two minutes after the foul, Saphir Taider stepped to the penalty spot and converted the shot to cut LAFC’s lead in half. Despite the brief scare, LAFC was able to hold on for the remaining five minutes and three minutes of stoppage time.
