Los Angeles Football Club posted their largest-ever margin of victory in league play, as they crushed the Vancouver Whitecaps 6-0 Wednesday at Banc of California Stadium.
LAFC scored their fastest goal ever as well as the fastest fourth and fifth goals in MLS history, in a game that was effectively over in the opening 10 minutes, remarkably. The result will be welcomed by the black-and-gold, as they’ve previously been on a stretch of five losses in their last seven games, an uncharacteristic slump to this point in their history.
Bob Bradley used the same lineup as the last game, except Eduard Atuesta made his long-awaited return to the starting XI, replacing Francisco Ginella.
Eddie Segura nearly flicked a goal in off a corner kick in the opening minute, forcing a save from Vancouver goalkeeper Bryan Meredith. But on the next corner kick, Dejan Jakovic headed in Brian Rodriguez’s service, his first goal in MLS since 2012.
But LAFC weren’t done with the early goals, as Bradley Wright-Phillips scored in the 5th minute, this one an acrobatic golazo off a deflected cross. What a great goal.
He got another acrobatic goal, this a “more conventional” standing bicycle kick, in the 11th minute, to make it 3-0 already and to get his second goal of the night.
It was nearly a tidy BWP hat trick in the 14th minute, but it turned out that Vancouver defender Ranko Veselinovic redirected the low cross in ahead of Wright-Phillips to get the own goal credit, making it a remarkable 4-0.
Marc Dos Santos couldn’t wait for LAFC to post even more goals, and made a tactical sub within the next 10 minutes, bringing in more defensive-minded Leonard Owusu for cover and sacrificing forward Theo Bair to try and stanch the bleeding.
It didn’t do much, as Diego Rossi got in the scoring in the 33rd minute, taking a ball in final third, doing a give-and-go with Kaye, and after getting the ball back in the box, slotted it home to make it 5-0, cool as you like.
The second half was much less the goalfest of the first, and just before the hour mark Bradley made the smart move and made four changes at once, bringing in Mohamed El-Munir for Diego Palacios, Jordan Harvey (at center back), Ginella for Kaye and Danny Musovski for Wright-Phillips.
LAFC got another goal in the 68th minute, another own goal, as Andy Rose this time pipped Musovski to the last touch, to make it 6-0.
As far as palate cleansers go, this was a damn good one for LAFC, as they kept a clean sheet, got their win almost from the first whistle, and had a few players score. To quibble, it would have been nice for BWP to get a full hat trick, but you really can’t complain about such a dominant win. Now what’s next? Build some consistency and post a string of wins, and fully turn the page on a difficult stretch.
LAFC are next in action Sunday, when they’ll host the San Jose Earthquakes once again. The Quakes are in worse shape than the last time these teams played, a few short weeks ago, so LAFC have to regard it as a necessary three points. But hey, it’s been a difficult season, you never know until they take the field.
What do you think? Leave a comment below.
The Link LonkSeptember 24, 2020 at 11:27AM
https://ift.tt/2ZYL5fp
Quick Work: LAFC 6, Vancouver Whitecaps 0 - Angels on Parade
https://ift.tt/2VuKK1x
Work
No comments:
Post a Comment