LAFC Breaks Record in First Meeting with St Louis
This past Wednesday, July 12, the Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) had their first meeting against St Louis City Soccer Club (STL). Starting lineup for LAFC included Hollingshead, Maldondado, Chiellini, Palacios, Cifuente, Acosta, Sanchez, Vela, Boguz, and Bouanga in a 4-3-3 formation. St Louis’s starting players were Gioacchini, Ostrak, Pompeu, Vassilev, Blom, Alm, Nelson, Bell, Bartlett, and Nerwinski in a 4-4-1-1 formation. The game ended at 3-0 in favor of LAFC.
The goals scored during the game were made by Carlos Vela, Stipe Biuk, and José Cifuentes.
It’s not surprising that one of the goals was made by Vela; he’s the second top scorer on the team this season with eight goals so far. Denis Bouanga is the top scorer, overcoming Vela by four goals.
Throughout the match, St Louis appeared to be all over LAFC. Whenever they were about to shoot the ball, City’s defense was right there. However, when you look back at the statistics from the game, LAFC had 56% of the possession. LAFC had three shots on goal, while STL had two. St Louis had one more corner kick than Los Angeles. Defensively, LAFC had 15 fouls, while City had only 10. And both teams were even on yellow cards, two total for each team. St Louis put up a fight.
During this meeting, LAFC set yet another record for both their club and the MLS when Vela scored in the 72nd minute. They have become the fastest team to reach 350 regular season goals. And they did it in 180 games. DC United did it in 184 games, and their opponent in El Tráfico, LA Galaxy, did it in 188 games. One of the players, Acosta, stated that this game felt more like who they were when the club had its first game back in 2018. Acosta went on to call out the new expansion team, saying they want to beat St. Louis. This could mean both in a single match and in the overall standings.
When you look at the standings, LAFC is trailing St Louis by four points in the Western Conference because St Louis has won three more games so far this season. But the season isn’t over yet. There are 12 more games in the regular schedule, not including league cups. We’ll see who has the last laugh at the MLS Cup playoffs. In the meantime, LAFC will be taking the next two weeks off during the first round of the Leagues Cup, since they get a pass for this round after winning the MLS Cup last season.