LAFC remain unbeaten at home with their 4-1 victory over Orlando City SC.
It was a warm Saturday night at the Banc of California Stadium, the match was rescheduled to be played in the evening due to triple digit temperatures that afternoon.
Adama Diomande who was recently named MLS player of the month kept his scoring streak rolling with a goal in each half making it nine in seven matches.
LAFC opened the scoring in the 28th minute. Latif Blessing’s cross was deflected to Mark-Anthony Kaye, who unselfishly passed it to Diomande for the finish from inside the box.
Orlando tried to equalize a few minutes later when Sacha Kljestan found Dom Dwyer and was one on one with goalkeeper Tyler Miller, but Miller came up huge denying Dwyer the chance to tie the match.
LAFC doubled their lead in the 32nd minute when Aaron Kovar crossed the ball into box finding Blessing who scored his fifth goal of the season.
Orlando, who have now lost nine straight MLS matches, pulled one back in the 59th minute when Kljestan capitalized on a slip by defender Walker Zimmerman allowing his shot to beat Tyler Miller at the far post.
LAFC welcomed back Carlos Vela and Marco Ureña both having participated in the 2018 World Cup. Vela came on as a sub in the 64th minute for Kaye along with Diego Rossi who replaced Kovar.
Orlando thought they tied the match at 2-2 in the 72nd minute, but referee Chris Penso disallowed their goal after video review showed Justin Meram was offsides.
LAFC took a two goal lead in the 82nd minute as Diomande recorded his second goal of the night. Carlos Vela whipped in a corner kick that found LAFC captain Laurent Ciman, his header was saved by goalkeeper Joe Bendik, but Diomande’s bicycle kick connected with the ball hitting the underside part of the crossbar allowing the ball to just go over the goal line.
Just two minutes later LAFC added another goal when Blessing crossed the ball finding Rossi who smacked it into the back of the net.
Any chance of a repeat of their disappointing 2-2 draw against the Houston Dynamo on Tuesday was diminished as the Black and Gold were able to hold on to their three goal lead.
Goalkeeper Tyler Miller made eight saves in the match and was awarded the LAFC Man of the Match for his contribution in preserving his team’s score line.
A lot of the saves tonight I was trying to make myself as big as possible and make it hard for them to beat me. It was honestly a team effort we had a tremendous effort from everybody and able to get this good result for us.
Tyler Miller
With the return of Rossi, Ureña, and Vela to the squad, and new signing André Horta waiting in the wings head coach Bob Bradley has a surplus of attacking options at his disposal. LAFC have scored 41 goals this season and it looks like the goals won’t be drying up anytime soon.
We have a deeper team, there’s more competition. If you talk about making more good football, then you want to do that everyday in training, and the more good players you have, the more guys compete in training, the better you have to make it all come together. It’s all exciting.
Bob Bradley
LAFC move up to second in the Western Conference on 34 points, just one point behind leaders FC Dallas. LAFC’s next match is against the Portland Timbers on Sunday, July 15th at Banc of California Stadium.
LAFC
Orlando City
