LAFC IN 2020
LAFC's 2020 MLS season picked up where the club had left off at the close of its record-breaking 2019. Reigning MLS MVP and Golden Boot winner Carlos Vela scored goals in the club’s first two matches of 2020, against Inter Miami and the Philadelphia Union. The Black & Gold advanced past Liga MX’s Club León in the first round of the Concacaf Champions League with a wild 3-0 win in the second leg of the series in which LAFC came back from a two-goal deficit against one of the top teams in Mexico.
The stage was set to continue an exciting run through international play, but the COVID-19 global pandemic shut down the sports world on March 12. The MLS season was officially suspended, and it looked like LAFC’s entire 2020 campaign might be over after just four games.
Unable to take the pitch, the club immersed itself in the community, launching numerous efforts to help Los Angeles navigate the new normal. LAFC launched the Black & Gold Community Relief Fund, an effort to raise critical dollars earmarked to support those most impacted by pandemic. The club also hosted food giveaways, blood drives with the American Red Cross, and worked with the L.A. Mayor’s office to help distribute critical COVID-19 safety information.
On July 8, 2020, LAFC signed its own Academy players to Homegrown First Team contracts for the first time, realizing GM John Thorrington’s original vision of what the club’s youth program could be: “the backbone” of the club. As planned, the young players Tony Leone (16), Christian Torres (16), and Erik Dueñas (15) stepped efficiently into their first-team roles.
After several months of planning, MLS returned to the field in mid-July with the MLS Is Back Tournament in a “bubble” setting in Orlando. The Black & Gold was eliminated by Orlando City SC in the Quarterfinals of the tournament, but not before picking up five regular-season points in the group stage with ties against Houston and Portland and a win over the Galaxy. Without Carlos Vela, who missed the tournament to remain in Los Angeles with his pregnant wife, Diego Rossi broke out and earned the MLS Is Back Golden Boot as well as the Best Young Player award and a place on the competition's Best XI squad.
As the MLS regular season continued in empty venues across the country, LAFC was faced with the toughest on-field adversity it had faced in its three-year history. Vela was lost for nearly 10 weeks with a knee injury, and the Black & Gold was forced to play parts of the season without injured starters Eduard Atuesta, Tristan Blackmon and Mark-Anthony Kaye. By mid-September, the club had already surpassed its loss total (four) from the year before.
There were bright spots for the young club, though. In October, 16-year-old Christian Torres became the first-ever LAFC Academy product to start an MLS match, and became the youngest MLS player to earn a start that season. That same day, 15-year-old Erik Dueñas, another academy signing, entered the match in the 71st minute and at 15 years, 362 days old became the third-youngest player to appear in an MLS match in league history, behind only Freddy Adu and Alphonso Davies. Eleven games after his first appearance on August 30, Torres became the first-ever LAFC Academy product to score an MLS goal, an equalizer against the Portland Timbers in stoppage time.
With several stars sidelined, Diego Rossi leveled up his play, eventually claiming the league's Golden Boot award for most goals scored -- the second straight season an LAFC player earned the honor. Rossi also become the youngest player to ever win the Golden Boot. The 22-year-old also garnered MLS Young Player Of The Year and MLS Best XI honors.
Veteran striker and two-time MLS Golden Boot winner Bradley Wright-Phillips recorded eight goals and six assists in his first season with LAFC on his way to being named the league’s 2020 Comeback Player of the Year.
The Black and Gold entered the MLS Cup Playoffs as the seventh seed, facing the Seattle Sounders in Round One. Starters Diego Rossi, Brian Rodriguez, José Cifuentes and Diego Palacios had to miss the match due to COVID-19, and LAFC fell to the Sounders 3-1. A chance to earn more hardware still remained with the restart of Concacaf Champions League.
The Black & Gold began the CCL Quarterfinals by defeating Liga MX powerhouse Cruz Azul 2-1. In the semifinal against Liga MX giant Club América, LAFC went down early in the first half against the run of play, then Atuesta was shown a controversial red card that put LAFC a man down going into the half. Carlos Vela took over from there, scoring two goals in the first two minutes of the second half before Latif Blessing fired in a stoppage-time goal to put the secure the 3-1 win.
In just its third season, the Black & Gold had just become the first MLS team to beat three Liga MX teams in a single Concacaf tournament and just the third MLS team to qualify for a Concacaf final since 2000. Up next was another Mexican colossus: Tigres UANL. Playing without Atuesta due to his red card in the semifinal, LAFC controlled the action for much of the first 70 minutes. Following a scoreless first half, Diego Rossi gave LAFC a 1-0 lead in the 61st minute, but the Black & Gold could not hang on as Tigres evened the match in the 71st minute on a header by Hugo Ayala, then took the lead with six minutes remaining on a André-Pierre Gignac goal.
And just like that, after a stirring performance that rewrote history and grabbed the world’s attention with marquee victories over Mexican giants Club León, Cruz Azul and Club América, LAFC’s 2020 season concluded with a reaffirmed commitment to climbing the game's highest mountains.
2020 ACCOMPLISHMENTS
2020 Concacaf Champions League Finalist
MLS Records:
- First club in MLS history with consecutive Golden Boot Winners (Carlos Vela 2019, Diego Rossi 2020)
- Youngest-ever MLS Golden Boot Winner (Rossi - 22 years old)
- Third youngest player ever to appear in an MLS match (Erik Dueñas, 15 years, 362 days; Oct. 14, 2020, at Vancouver)
Major MLS Honors:
- 2020 Golden Boot: Diego Rossi
- 2020 MLS Best XI: Diego Rossi
- 2020 AT&T MLS Young Player of the Year: Diego Rossi
- 2020 MLS Comeback Player of the Year: Bradley Wright-Phillips