LAFC played the most challenging schedule in MLS history last year, a 53-game slog that saw the team play for six trophies. Yet it crossed the finish line in December exhausted and empty-handed.
The schedule has been far more forgiving this season and as a result it may prove much more rewarding as well.
With Wednesday’s 4-0 rout of the Colorado Rapids, LAFC advanced to Sunday’s Leagues Cup final against the Columbus Crew, which beat the Philadelphia Union in the other semifinal. That game, in Ohio, will be a repeat of last winter’s MLS Cup final, won by the Crew.
And once again, silverware will be on the line.
“Our group is looking forward to a rematch and I think we’re more focused on just the opportunity at hand, and not so much about any sort of revenge,” said LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo, whose team’s only loss at home this season was a 5-1 pummeling by the Crew last month. “If you want to raise a trophy, you have to put 90 minutes of excellent and intense work.”
After that, LAFC will travel to Seattle to play for a spot in next month’s U.S. Open Cup title game, where another trophy will be hoisted. Cherundolo likened that to playing two finals in four days.
“This is not something you can expect every year, but it’s something that we strive for,” he said. “Management and club ownership do their part in making sure that our rosters are capable of these deep runs in tournaments.
“For the moment we are maximizing our potential on all fronts.”
Indeed. Wednesday’s win, which extended LAFC’s unbeaten streak to eight games in all competition, left LAFC with just one loss — the one-sided Columbus result — in its last 22 games. In seven of the last eight games, it hasn’t even trailed.
So in addition to reaching the final four of this summer’s two biggest tournaments, LAFC, as the hottest team in MLS, is pushing for a third Supporters’ Shield and third straight trip to the league final, giving it two more chances to take home trophies.
“We are trying to win everything that we possibly can,” added newly arrived midfielder Lewis O’Brien, who came off the bench Wednesday to get his first LAFC goal, closing out the scoring.
Colorado didn’t make it easy, at least not at first, keeping LAFC off the scoreboard until the 42nd minute when Mateusz Bogusz bent a right-footed shot inside the far post from just outside the box. After that the dam burst, with Kei Kamara doubling the lead three minutes later.
Denis Bouanga made it 3-0 in the 59th minute, scoring his tournament-leading sixth goal of the Leagues Cup at the end of a counterattack launched by Olivier Giroud’s headed clearance of a Colorado corner kick. O’Brien, a former Premier League midfielder who joined LAFC three weeks ago, got his score 16 minutes later.
Defender Ryan Hollingshead finished with two assists and all that proved more than enough for keeper Hugo Lloris, who has conceded only a goal in his last four games.
Regardless of what happens Sunday, just by reaching the Leagues Cup championship game LAFC assured itself a berth in next year’s CONCACAF Champions Cup, the region’s most prestigious club competition. That could make for another crowded schedule next season.
But Cherundolo said his team isn’t looking any further into the future than Sunday.
“We’re proud of what we achieved, qualifying for the Champions Cup already. And you know, raising the trophy is icing on the cake,” he said. “There is fatigue in our legs. The disadvantage is maybe still to come. You have to turn it around after Sunday and then play again Wednesday in Seattle and travel thousands and thousands of miles and sleep in hotel beds. It could be tough.
“But there’s a lot of hunger still in our group. Any opportunity to win silverware is important for us and that’s our goal and that’s all we’re thinking about.”