Diego Rossi, left, was the catalyst for LAFC against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday.
By Ivan Yeo
LAFC’s final home match produced some mixed results on Sunday afternoon.
With a monster of a road showdown with Sporting Kansas City looming next week to close out the season, LAFC looked to put themselves in the driver’s seat knowing full well three points against the Whitecaps would’ve put them ahead of SKC heading into next week’s tantalizing first-place showdown.
LAFC started out well. Diego Rossi had a brace in just 15 minutes and LAFC looked poised to be in the top spot in the West, but Vancouver turned out to live up to its role of spoiler well, making the most of two opportunities for two goals and eventually a 2-2 draw at Banc of California Stadium.
“For me it’s a bad tie, it’s two points that we let get away,” LAFC head coach Bob Bradley said. “We’ve done it before this year, if you do it late in the year, obviously it feels worse. We got to still make sure that within the group there’s a real sense of optimism because we still get the chance to go to Kansas City next week and win the conference.”
The draw, combined with Kansas City’s 3-0 win over FC Dallas enabled Kansas City to have the advantage heading into next Sunday’s match, as Kansas City is now in first place, two points ahead of both LAFC and FC Dallas.
It took LAFC just five minutes to get things going. Aaron Kovar led a break from the left side, took a few more touches from the left side before playing a ball to Carlos Vela at the very top of the ball. Vela then played Rossi into the penalty area and Rossi’s shot beat Stefan Marinovic far post. LAFC doubled its lead when Lee Nguyen played a ball to Vela, who sprung Kovar with a ball into the penalty area. Kovar crossed inside the six-yard box, Vancouver’s Kendall Watson did cut off the cross and the ball trickled outside the six, but Rossi swooped in and buried the shot into the back net and in just 15 minutes, Rossi had himself two goals and LAFC had a two-goal lead.
“We try to create good plays,” Rossi said. “We try to play fast and pass well. We’ve played many matches together and we have gotten know each other a lot better each game. We pretty much know what each player is going to do. Our chemistry has improved.”
Vancouver however got a bit of a lifeline in the 21st minute. Alphonso Davies cut inside LAFC’s Lee Nguyen and Danilo Silva and sprinted into the penalty area, Davies took a touch before Benny Feilhaber came him and knocked Davies to the ground and referee Nima Saghafi quickly whistled for the penalty area. Yordy Reyna stepped up to the spot and buried the penalty to halve LAFC’s lead.
LAFC still took the lead into the locker room, and had it for the first 15 minutes of the second half, but Vancouver made the most of one chance. Jordan Mutch received a ball from Erik Hurtado, took a few touches forward before letting loose a volley from 35 yards out and lasered past a diving Tyler Miller far post for an unbelievable equalizer.
“Anytime that you have to run 60- or 70-yards tracking players, especially in the heat, it takes it out of you,” LAFC’s Steven Beitashour said. “Anytime we can just stop it from the beginning, it saves a lot, and we can be more productive when we get the ball.”
So despite the dropped points, the opportunity is still there for LAFC next Sunday to take first place in the Western Conference. Head coach Bob Bradley is approaching Sunday’s match with a sense of optimism and opportunity.
“I think that we’re a good team but we’re looking for a little more consistency when it really counts to become a great team and we get a chance to finish strong next week and when it’s all said and done, see what that means for playoffs,” Bradley said.
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