Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday’s Folks!
With the year winding down and preseason looming near LAFC have made moves to solidify their defense. When Giorgio Chiellini arrived many felt that he would help LAFC become more solid on defense. However, while at times it has work the club continued with their struggles. Ultimatley they went on to win MLS Cup after an exhilarating game. Now LAFC makes their way for season number 6 and a few new faces have arrived.
Denil Maldonado is Black and Gold
LAFC would go on to sign Honduran defender Denil Maldonado, on loan, through the 2023 season. This transfer also includes an option to exercise a permanent transfer from his parent club CD Motagua. Denil, a 24 year old, has played for Pachuca of Liga MX and Everton of the Chilean League. He also has 21 caps for the Honduran National team. While he has experience there is not much from him as to how his style is. Denil will be a solid player for LAFC and a great player come off the bench. LAFC has a solid backline and he will fit in as a solid backup piece.
LAFC Makes a Couple of Dreams Come True
For the majority of fans their goal as a kid was to make it professionally. However, sometimes life doesn’t go that way and for the ones that do a lot of sacrafice was put into it. With the MLS Superdraft it has helped many atheltes go pro. In this years Superdraft LAFC picked up two defending pieces to add to their roster. LAFC with the 58th pick chose goalkeeper Jassem Koleilat from the University of New Hampshire. They also used the 87th pick to pick Noah Dollenmayer, Defender, from California State University San Bernardino! Now if I may I will show some biased towards Dollenmayer as I covered and broadcasted CSUSB from 2019-2022. Dollenmayer only played the first three games of the season as he broke his foot.
Dollenmayer as described from head coach Josh Hill “His commitment to the group and understanding of team concept elevated him to a level beyond his peers. He takes care of his nutrition, sleep, and he trains with maximum focus and intensity every day. His commitment to his routines make him the ideal student-athlete. His capacity to learn in the classroom and on the field have proven to our staff that his potential is very high.” This is high praise from his head coach and he along with Koleilat will hopefully become key players for the 1st team in the near future.
While the season is still a couple months away, seeing LAFC address some areas of need show that the club is serious for competing the title once again. It will be exciting to see what the club has in stor for season number 6. The big one was already won and now they have the opportunity to win the CONCACAF Champions League. Time will tell what LAFC decides to focus on. For now its great to see the club taking care of business as usual!
