LOS ANGELES (News4usonline) – On Aug. 21, the Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) will play the Vancouver Whitecaps FC. If the two teams play as evenly as they did in their July 24 matchup in Los Angeles, chances are that the outcome of the contest could come down to a tie.
That’s exactly what happened between LAFC and Vancouver in their last rodeo together. Both squads were fit to be tied, thanks to a 2-2 outcome. On a press conference call with the media, LAFC coach Bob Bradley shared his thoughts about the teams being deadlocked in a tie.
“We tried to be very fluid, so at times when we play 4-3-3, they are narrow,” Bradley said. “There’s the freedom for them to play wider. We do a good job when we play three in the back, using (Jose) Cifuentes at times as a third forward and third midfield.”
Bradley went on and talked about the play he received from Carlos Vela and Diego Rossi.
“Diego played amazing ball across to Carlos and that is what set out goals,” Bradley said. . “We got into good positions in the box, many of the opportunities come a little bit from the side.”
LAFC nearly scored a goal in the 7th minute with Vancouver making a half-clearance, before Vancouver goalkeeper Thomas Hasel made a save. In the 25th minute of the game, Vancouver forward Deiber Caicedo made a goal when LAFC defender Moon-Hwan Kim lost control of the ball after a bad clearance.
Vancouver also scored another goal in the 38th minute when Gutierrez made a crossing pass with Cristian Dajome heading and never gave an opportunity for LAFC goalkeeper Thomas Romero to saved the goal.
Two minutes later after Vancouver scored their second goal, Vela came to the rescue to score a goal thanks to LAFC midfielder Edward Atuesta’s perfect pass. Atuesta’s pass, unfortunately, was called for offsides. When the referee checked the VAR on Vela’s goal, it turned out that he was inside instead of offsides and awarded a goal and made the score 1-2.
After Vancouver scored two goals on LAFC, things started to get worst for the home team. Los Angeles got the equalizer in the 75th minute with Cifuntes scoring a perfect goal on his right foot, thanks to LAFC defender Diego Palacios crossing pass that helped the team equalize the game.
In the game’s 84th minute, Caicedo helped Vancouver get the lead but his goal was offside.
After being down two goals in the second half, LAFC ended up earring one point from losing position for the first time this season. It wasn’t an easy game for LAFC because the team didn’t play well in the first half. However, they wound up making a comeback.
Standing-wise, LAFC is a better ballclub than Vancouver. LAFC is in the No. 7 spot in the MLS Western Conference standings. Vancouver sits at the bottom of the conference (No. 13). It didn’t make a bit of difference. Vancouver proved to be a tough matchup for LAFC.
This contest was not an easy one for LAFC, but the team managed to overcome a slow start to tie the Whitecaps.
“For this game that was our appointment to press high, because we know if we keep dropping and play in our half we’ll give them [too] much space to play between us,” Vancouver midfielder Janio Bikel said. “So, this was the main task to press, don’t be afraid to press high and to play in their half.”
Bradley had lots of thoughts on the game between the first half and second half of the game playing Vancouver. In the first half, the players were overrun. In the second half of the game the team starts doing better.
Bradley saw lots of bad passes and wants his players to pass the ball three to four times and put pressure.
“There were times that the players didn’t have good days because the players were messing up too much,” Bradley said, “not good enough tonight. Not good enough.”
