Photos courtesy of LAFC.
Corey Baird was thrilled to score his first goal in an LAFC shirt on Saturday.
Opening week of the 2021 season could not have gone any stranger for LAFC.
Welcoming an expansion side into Banc of California Stadium for a second straight year and playing in front of fans for the first time since March of last year, the crowd at Saturday afternoon’s match against Austin FC got to see quite a lot, including a baffling substitution involving Carlos Vela in the first half.
However, in the end, LAFC treated the fans to the one thing they had grown accustomed to; a win. Second half goals from Corey Baird and Jose Cifuentes enabled LAFC to overcome the strange substitution and for the fourth straight season, LAFC opened the season with a win following it’s 2-o win over Austin.
The situation began in the 20th minute when Vela tried to get on a cross from Baird and appeared to tweak his knee. Vela signaled to the sideline, which may have signaled to head coach Bob Bradley that he needed to come off, and Bradley made the move, bringing in Kwadwo Opoku to replace Vela in the 22nd minute. However, as he walked towards the LAFC bench, Vela had that look of confusion on his face as he could not believe what had just happened. Apparently, Vela wanted to continue in the match and his signal to the bench may have merely been to just have the trainer come out and check on his knee. However, the substitution had already been made and therefore, LAFC had to go the remainder of the match without its best player.
“You know, if he gives a little bit of a look like I need to come off, and then he comes over and at the last
second, says, no, let me try, it’s too late at that point. So I told him quickly, look, I thought you needed to come off,” Bradley said about the weird sequence of events.
“At halftime I checked on him, and said, look, hopefully it’s okay. We’re still checking that part out. So there’s nothing more to say. I can take responsibility if I make a move too fast. There’s no problem for me saying I jumped the gun on that one, but it happens.”
THe match was scoreless at the half, but LAFC came out firing in the second half. LAFC had a chance to get on the board in the 53rd minute, but an Eddie Segura header off a corner kick went off the crossbar. LAFC though finally broke through in the 61st minute, as Danny Musovski took a ball from Tristan Blackmon and played a pass towards Latif Blessing. The pass was behind Blessing, but Baird came in and one-timed a shot from about 20 yards out, and the shot beat Brad Stuver near post. LAFC sealed the win in stoppage time, as Opoku won possession of the ball from both Daniel Pereira and Matt Besler deep on Austin’s side of the field and broke for goal. Opoku drew out Stuver, but chose to play the short cross to a trailing Cifuentes and he buried the open netter near post.
They (Austin) played well, but I think just through a lot of possession from us, getting the ball in dangerous areas where we could just keep going away at them and ended up getting a couple,” Baird said.
Saturday’s match for LAFC was the first official match played in front of fans since March 8 of last year. A crowd of 4,900 made their way into Banc of California Stadium to watch LAFC start a season with three points for a fourth consecutive season. Before the match, LAFC paid tribute to Mo Fascio, one of the founders and Vice President of the LAFC supporters group 3252 who passed away last month after contracting COVID. LAFC held a moment of silence and a tifo in Mo’s image was unveiled by the 3252s.
“His personality and his presence and how much he loved LAFC just came across every time we got a
chance to be around him,” Bradley said of Mo Fascio. “The memory of him in the locker room with some others with the supporter shield, I saw it again. I always think back to that night, and you know, seeing him holding the supporter shield and that smile showed how much LAFC meant to him and as a result, he meant an incredible amount to all of us.”
Photo Courtesy of LAFC.
LAFC and the 3252s paid tribute to Mo Fascio, one of the 3252’s founding members and Vice President, on Saturday.
LAFC will be at home once more on a Saturday afternoon, this time to face the Seattle Sounders in another nationally televised match.
