With some of its top players out, LAFC plays to draw against Sounders
Injuries, absences and just pain old fatigue forced LAFC coach Bob Bradley to use a franchise-high 29 players in a COVID-shortened 2020 season.
Two games into the new year, he’s way ahead of that pace. With four starters sidelined Saturday, Bradley cleared his bench, using 15 players and giving two their LAFC debuts in a 1-1 draw with the Seattle Sounders.
Eduard Atuesta scored for LAFC (1-0-1), rolling a free kick under the Sounders’ defensive wall in the second minute. Brad Smith matched that for Seattle (1-0-1), nodding a header in early in the second half to give the Sounders their first regular-season point in four games at Banc of California Stadium.
“We pride ourselves on the way we train every day, and we always try to push players so that when the moment comes, they’re ready,” said Bradley, who has used 19 players in two games. “When those situations come up, I’m sure there’s positives to see certain guys on the field.
“You see the experience paying off and them getting better every day.”
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The LAFC-Seattle rivalry has grown into one of the fiercest in MLS, with the Sounders going through Bradley’s team to reach the league championship game in each of the last two years. But Saturday’s early-season rematch was far from playoff quality, especially with LAFC missing forwards Carlos Vela and Diego Rossi, the last two MLS scoring leaders, as well as defender Tristan Blackmon.
In their place, Bradley started Corey Baird and teenager Mahala Opoku up front and Marco Farfan at right back. The three entered the game having combined for one career start in an LAFC uniform.
Late in the game, Bradley gave Cal Jennings his MLS debut and used Bryce Duke for 26 minutes in his first appearance of the season.
“We have a solid team. We have depth in pretty much every position,” Duke said. “If someone’s out with an injury, then whoever’s behind them is [ready] for their opportunity and ready to make the most of it.
“If goes for everyone who was given the opportunity today.”
Saturday’s start was the first of Opoku’s brief MLS career, and he made his presence felt immediately, drawing a foul from Xavier Arreaga at the edge of the Seattle penalty area to set up LAFC’s score, with Atuesta’s perfectly placed free kick beating Sounders keeper Stefan Frei just inside the near post.
The score, in the 85th second, was the fastest in team history, but LAFC couldn’t maintain that early momentum and the rest of the game was about as even as the final score. LAFC had a razor-thin edge in possession and both teams took nine shots, although LAFC put one more on target.
So it seems fair that the game ended tied on the scoreboard as well, with Smith tying the score in the 54th minute. The sequence started with Alex Roldan’s cross from the right wing finding Raúl Ruidíaz knifing between Farfan and Jesús Murillo just outside the six-yard box. LAFC keeper Pablo Sisniega made the save of Ruidíaz’s leaping header, but the rebound took one bounce toward the unmarked Smith, who ducked to nod the ball in for his first MLS score.
The goal was also the first Sisniega allowed in 144 minutes this season.
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“I believe in the team. We see the way they work every day,” said Bradley, who used six players under the age of 23. “The positive part was the mentality. I like to see it come out. I like to see it come out with some young guys on big days.
“That was really positive.”
So was the fact that Bradley has already had a look at more than half the players on his roster just eight days into the season.
“The competition between us is important,” Farfan said in Spanish. “No one can relax and say, ‘I’m a starter. This is my role.’ We push each other in every training session, and we know we have to keep working.
“Every one of us has to be ready when they call our name.”
