With Los Angeles FC’s first-choice striker pairing in Russia competing at the World Cup, LAFC had to turn to its pair of young wingers to lead the forward lines in its Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup match against USL side Sacramento Republic FC.
Diego Rossi, 20, and Latif Blessing, 21, started on the front lines, and combined for two goals and an assist in LAFC’s late 3-2 win on Wednesday night.
Blessing started in the center forward position, with Rossi on the left, though he did interchange and play centrally as well as on the right side in the dying minutes.
While the two are no strangers to getting significant time for LAFC, they spend most of their time along the touchlines, taking defenders 1-on-1 and serving in crosses. On Wednesday night the onus was on Blessing and Rossi to be finishers, running into the box and converting from close range.
Blessing created problems for the Sacramento defenders with his off-the-ball movement. He’d run the channel one play, using his pace to create separation and pull his marker out wide, and the next would come short to receive and run at the defense with pace. For a player who plays primarily on the wing, he looked comfortable in the middle of the field.
“I thought he [Blessing] made a lot of good decisions technically where he started to dribble and then decided it wasn’t the right time” LAFC coach Bob Bradley said after the game. “He was able to shift down and make passes to the next guy. We created a few chances where when we got into the box, instead of hitting a wild shot we were composed enough to make another pass in the box.”
While Blessing played primarily as the center forward for this match, his ability to drift out of position allowed Diego Rossi to come centrally. Rossi scored the equalizer in the 66th minute after Blessing cleared space. Rossi rotated centrally, then ran between the center backs and converted his 1-on-1 opportunity.
“Diego can work as a forward – as a number nine,” Bradley said. “In training on different days they all [Blessing, Rossi, Diomande, Vela, and Urena] play there and on the night we decide what is the better option.”
Rossi, staying wide for long periods, used his pace to run behind the Sacramento defense in the wide areas as Blessing buzzed around the center backs. The Uruguay native hit two posts as a result of these runs, and eventually was rewarded for his runs when he slotted a pass across the net in the 89th minute, assisting Latif Blessing’s game winning goal.
Despite missing Vela and Urena up top, Blessing was completely confident of his ability to lead the lines. He dubbed himself before the match the “King of the Open Cup” and made good on his confidence with the winning goal.
“Way back home, all my friends and family, I need to bring the trophy home so they will be happy,” Blessing said. “But that’s why I say ‘the Open Cup is my game.’ I’m going to work hard to lift this trophy.”
The Ghanaian made good on his promise to score in the Cup, and is currently tied in second for most goals in the Cup with two.
Though the young forwards were positive in their play, they weren’t without fault. LAFC’s plan to get behind the defense was evident from Rossi and Blessing’s movement, but was accentuated by 10 offside calls against LAFC.
“At times, its the timing of his runs,” Bradley said of Blessing’s movement. “Sometimes he’s offside on plays where he shouldn’t be. We tried to get him at certain moments to come off the line so he could find chances to go through. There’s things there that of course need work, but he put a lot into it.”
Bradley plan to use Rossi and Blessing’s speed to get behind the defense was largely successful and despite the 10 offside calls will be happy with how easy it was to get to goal in this match.
LAFC will once again be without Vela and Urena on Saturday against the Portland Timbers. The team does have Adama Diomande who signed in early May to play as a striker. Diomande plays a very different style to Rossi and Blessing, and depending on how Bradley wants to set up for the weekend, he knows he can count on his young players to step up and play centrally as needed.
Perhaps more likely we’ll see the youngsters remain in wide positions in that match and moving forward in 2018, but beyond that, it’s a good sign that Rossi and Blessing are learning to play centrally. In recent memory players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Raheem Sterling, Antoine Griezmann and even Carlos Vela have transitioned from wingers into ruthless center forwards and center attacking midfielders. It’s too early to tell if Blessing or Rossi will follow suit but the performance on Wednesday night indicates that Bradley has great scoring options even when missing his star players.
