And then there were none.
Three teams entered MLS play this week with an unbeaten record. LAFC was one of them. A midweek loss in Vancouver put an end to that though. Then Houston saw its unbeaten run halted on Friday night. To survive the week, the lone unbeaten side in MLS would need to escape Banc of California Stadium on Sunday without a defeat - something four previous visitors to the Banc failed to accomplish.
- LAFC 4-1 Seattle Sounders
The Seattle Sounders arrived in LA unbeaten in six matches. A result on Sunday would extend that streak and, more importantly, a win would pull the Sounders level with LAFC atop the Western Conference.
By the final whistle on Sunday, the Sounders' streak had ended and the gap between them and LAFC had grown to six points.
Here are the takeaways from LAFC's 4-1 win over the Seattle Sounders:
Outside To Inside
Out of possession, Seattle dropped into a 4-4-2 shape against LAFC. The midfield duo of Cristian Roldan and Gustav Svensson did its best to keep the space between their line and the center backs tight by sitting deep. And the impetus of Seattle was on forcing LAFC to find space around the edges of the formation.
As far as gameplans go, it's not a bad one. LAFC like to control the middle of the pitch to open options going forward. But instead of forcing it into those areas, the Black & Gold did an excellent job of using the ball to pull the Sounders from side to side to create gaps.
LAFC was methodical but quick when in possession. More often than not, LAFC found a bit of space wide but instead of racing down the touchline, LAFC used that space to find passes back into the center of the pitch. That approach forced Roldan and Svensson to respect LAFC players that had taken up positions in the half spaces. By occupying Seattle's central midfield, more inside passes and combinations opened up for LAFC, despite the Sounders fairly tight lines.
Corralling Lodeiro
Nico Lodeiro is a special player. In Seattle's system, he has the freedom to roam and combine with the wide forwards and outside backs to create numerical problems for the opposition.
Against LAFC, he was absolutely shackled.
You can see how Lodeiro drifts from side to side in his pass map, but what's important is where the passes are going from there.
Lodeiro does damage when he combines with players in little triangles around the edges of the area. From there he can take on defenders or slip a pass inside. By the looks of it, it doesn't seem like he found many of those inside passes.
Between Eddie Segura and Walker Zimmerman stepping into the play to cut out service to Lodeiro and Eduard Atuesta guiding him into pressure, LAFC kept Seattle's best player quiet on Sunday.
Dominating Midfield
Mark-Anthony Kaye, Latif Blessing, and Eduard Atuesta were bosses on Sunday. They simply overran Seattle's midfield.
All three were calm on the ball and got themselves into good positions to receive passes from teammates. With Roldan and Svensson sitting deep, the trio combined often through the middle of the pitch and freed up LAFC's forward line to make runs in behind. That control of the match also allowed them to retain their shape when the ball was turned over. More often than not, Seattle found themselves giving the ball right back to LAFC because of the short distances the midfield had to travel to close players down.
When the midfield plays like that, it provides LAFC the control it needs in the right areas. You want to find Carlos Vela and Diego Rossi moving towards the opponent's goal, not flat-footed and with a defender on their backs. It's no wonder the result was LAFC's fourth match of the season with four goals or more.
Executing The Killer Pass
I'm in love with this pass. Through a tight window and with perfect pace, it's the assist of the week.
Or maybe it's this one:
Then again, this wasn't too shabby, either:
It doesn't matter which pass you fancy, the point is that LAFC found that decisive pass on multiple occasions on Sunday. The timing was perfect. The weight of the ball was perfect. And the recognition was perfect.
When you have a team with ideas going forward, that takes chances, and they execute, your chances of getting a great match of football are always high.
From Front To Back
After the match, Christian Ramirez said LAFC came in with a bit of a chip on their shoulders. The energy and effort on both sides of the ball proved that.
Ramirez, in particular, had a great performance. He was engaged on both sides of the ball and active throughout. One of the things Bob Bradley has expressed to his center forward is his need to be involved throughout the match, not looking to get on the end of the final pass.
Against Seattle, Ramirez peeled off his defender on numerous occasions to be a reference for LAFC in the attack. By creating an extra yard of space when receiving the ball, Ramirez found time to pick up his head and link with teammates. It also forced the center back pairing of Román Torres and Kim Kee-hee to make the uncomfortable decision to either follow Ramirez or try to step out to the center forward's layoffs.
Ramirez eventually used this to his own advantage when he played a little give-and-go with Mark-Anthony Kaye at the top of the area. After seeing Ramirez drop off on numerous occasions only to lay a short pass off to a teammate, Torres and Kee-hee lost track of the LAFC striker this time. Ramirez kept on the move and Kaye timed the return ball just right.
But even better, about 10 minutes after getting his goal, Ramirez tracked all the way back into LAFC's area to foil a dangerous opportunity from Seattle.
I'm singling out Ramirez here because that sequence - a goal on one end and a defensive stop on the other - was a perfect example of how engaged LAFC was from top to bottom in this match. But I could have easily pointed to countless examples by other LAFC players in Sunday's match.
After the first loss of the season, everyone knew LAFC had to respond in a big way.
There's no better way to do that than by knocking off the last MLS unbeaten.
