5 Takeaways From LAFC's 5-1 Win At Real Salt Lake

Following up its historic first win in Seattle, LAFC one-upped itself with a five-goal performance at Real Salt Lake on Saturday. The Club's 5-1 victory snapped RSL's 8-game home winning streak. 

LAFC is now only the third expansion team in MLS history to win each of its first two matches (1998 Chicago Fire and 2009 Seattle Sounders being the other two teams). With five goals in the scoreline for LAFC, why not do five takeaways from this game:

Was It Or Wasn’t It: Part 1

Penalty or not?

Your opinion of the Dejan Jakovic attempted tackle on Joao Plata that resulted in a penalty and RSL’s first goal is likely going to depend on the team you support. But here’s a few things we can probably all agree on. Jakovic’s contact on Plata was minimal, despite how clumsy his challenge looked. Plata going down was more a result of seeing Jakovic coming than actually being felled by him. That being said, Jakovic clearly goes completely over the ball. In that instance, you’ve got to get at least a sliver of the ball in your tackle to erase any doubt from the referee’s mind.

Was It Or Wasn’t It: Part 2

Here we go again.

Just three minutes after Diego Rossi leveled the score for LAFC, there was another questionable call. Steven Beitashour looks to be a step offside before dragging the ball back to Latif Blessing for a tap in.

Make up call you say? Sure, maybe it’s karma. Either way, each team benefited from a questionable call in the first half.

Down But Not Out

Plata’s goal put LAFC at a deficit for the first time in its short MLS history. It didn’t take long for a response to adversity though. Ten minutes later, LAFC were level. And just three minutes after that they were ahead for good.

At halftime, Bob Bradley said he was impressed by his team’s response to giving up the first goal. Adding three more goals in the second half would have made Bradley even happier.

Marco Ureña’s Masterclass

It was a vintage Marco Ureña performance against RSL.

There’s so many things Ureña does for LAFC that don’t show up on the scoresheet. And I’m not just talking about his pressing off the ball. His ability to occupy opposing center backs opens so many options for his team.

On LAFC’s opening goal, Ureña froze RSL center back Justen Glad in no man’s land allowing Rossi to run into the gap behind and finish. It was a movement he made multiple times in the match, resulting in scoring chances at almost every turn. Couple that with Ureña's runs into the channels, and the center of the RSL defense was having fits on Saturday.

Goals, Goals, Goals

LAFC scored five goals for the first time in Club history. It was also a first for RSL, as they’d never given up five goals at home in franchise history.

You want more firsts? We’ve got more firsts.

Carlos Vela, Latif Blessing, and Benny Feilhaber all scored their first MLS goals for LAFC against RSL. And Diego Rossi had his first multi-goal match, a first for the player in MLS and for LAFC.