LAFC: Winning on big stage the last question to answer
In their first two seasons, LAFC have been phenomenal. As Carlos Vela highlighted this weekend, there is just one more question to answer: Can they win on the big stage?
Two years into life in Major League Soccer and Los Angeles FC have been one of the best expansion teams in league history. They opened life in a brilliant soccer-specific stadium, have a raucous fanbase that is passionate and growing, and built a brilliant team that was competitive from the moment they took to the pitch.
It was telling that LAFC won their first-ever match against the almighty Seattle Sounders on the road. That should have been enough to illustrate just what an impact they were going to have on the league.
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The rest of the first season was encouraging, if not spectacular. Diego Rossi and Carlos Vela were bright, Bob Bradley started to build his central midfield, eventually moving Latif Blessing inside, while the defence was still suspect and needed work.
In their second season, LAFC exploded. They produced the best regular season in history, played some of the best football MLS has ever seen, and had Vela, who broke the single-season scoring record in a superb MVP-winning year. There was just one thing missing: postseason success.
LAFC fell to the very team they beat in their first MLS outing. The ever-experienced Seattle provided their winning mettle once again. LAFC were dumped out of the postseason with nothing to show for their outrageous efforts. And now — even Vela, who was heralded for his individual exploits — they want more.
“I want to win MLS Cup. It’s the most important thing for me,” Vela told mlssoccer.com. “When you win something individually, it feels good but, in the end, football or soccer is a team sport. If I want to be in the history of MLS or the history of LAFC, I have to win titles. That’s my goal. I hope this season or next season I can be MVP again, I can win championships and be in all those places, because if you are in those places, it’s because you’re doing the right things.”
In their quest to dominate the MLS landscape, this is the last thing that the Black and Gold are missing. While the logic is a little flawed given how much harder it is to win the Supporters’ Shield than it is to a knockout playoff tournament, LAFC will never be considered an elite MLS team until they secure an MLS Cup. And Vela knows it.
If there is one weakness that can be levelled at Bradley’s side, it is that they rarely perform at their best in big games. They have only beaten thei great rivals, the LA Galaxy, once, though that did come in the playoffs last year. They have fallen out of the postseason on both occasions. They are yet to make the U.S. Open Cup final. Even in the CONCACAF Champions League, they dropped an egg in their opener versus Club Leon only to then recover in a sensational second-leg performance.
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LAFC are a brilliant team. And they are on their way to becoming one of the most successful expansion teams in history. There is just one more question they have to answer: Can they win on the big stage?