LAFC Make A Lot of Changes Against the Earthquakes
LAFC would take their seven-game win streak into San Jose and looked to continue with their winning ways. After defeating D.C United by the minimum earlier in the week they would make the trip up north. While it looked like this should have been one of the more easier teams to play, LAFC would unfortunately walk away with a loss. There were many changes made to the starting 11 that ultimately affected the way the team played. Many players sharing the pitch for the first time and it showed. As LAFC would concede and early goal in the 14th minute. It would take the club until the 39th minute to respond. When Chicho would have his shot go off the crossbar, making it the only dangerous opportunity they had in the first half. The Black and Gold would go into the half down by a goal.
Second Half LAFC Was a No Show
This season LAFC has made a name for themselves in the second half. Typically they tend to show up in the second half and take it slow in the first. As they have been the team with the most goals scored in the second half this season. There bread and butter has been making adjustments for the second half and pulling off results. However it wouldn’t work in this game and if we are being honest this has to stop. Sure it has worked throughout the season, especially at home, but they cannot rely on this format to bring them to glory. LAFC looked closer to conceding another goal than scoring they tying goal. Ultimately they would handle all what San Jose threw at them and in the 52nd minute they would find the tying goal. A beautiful through ball from Kellyn Acosta found its way to Mahala Opoku. Where Opoku would chip it over the keeper and deliver the game tying goal for LAFC. It felt like another typical LAFC game, where they dominated and were the better team. They could not find the back of the net and the game stayed tied at 1. Until the 77th minute when Cade Cowell scored a banger of a volley and restored Earthquake’s lead. It would only get worse for LAFC as in the 79th minute Ilie Sanchez would see a red card after accumulating two yellow cards in a span of 12 minutes. While LAFC still maintain the best record in all of MLS they must reset and get back to the fundamentals. This was a wakeup call to fine tune all the little details and LAFC should have no problem bouncing back and starting up another win streak.
LAFC Clinch a Playoff Spot
Well on the bright side of this loss LAFC did manage to clinch a playoff spot. After Colorado’s last second equalizer against Houston, it ensures that the Black and Gold can finish no lower than seventh place. They will have at least a playoff match this year. They have equaled the record set in their historic 2019 season, taking them only 25 matches to clinch a spot in the playoffs. Now is not the time to get complacent. It is a good time to experiment as certain lineups have been much better than others. So whatever LAFC has to do to find its best lineup come playoff time go for it. All has been well in the city of Angels and hopefully the momentum can continue.
