The week was already momentous enough.
Late Wednesday night LAFC lifted its first U.S. Open Cup trophy in front of its home fans following a 120-minute slugfest with four-time champions Sporting Kansas City. The locker-room celebration was raucous, yet brief.
After a good night’s rest—particularly for the five field players who played every minute of the match—the team shuffled into the LAFC Performance Center Thursday morning for regeneration, rehydration, and treatment.
“We have a game on Saturday, at Cincinnati; it’s going to be tough,” goalkeeper Hugo Lloris said of the team’s quest to secure a top-four finish in the Western Conference and home-field advantage in the playoffs’ first round. “We know that we still have five games in our hands, to finish as high as we can.”
“It's funny, with professional sports you win a cup on Wednesday and by Thursday it doesn't matter,” Ryan Hollingshead said. “You gotta go fight again. We have a game on Saturday that has big-time implications for what's going to happen for us in the playoffs, our seed in the playoffs. So we have very little time to celebrate.”
Friday brought a light training session and a flight to Cincinnati to face defending Supporters’ Shield winners FC Cincinnati, a fully-rested side that stood in second place in the Eastern Conference.
LAFC’s flight was delayed. Instead of a tickertape parade down Figueroa, the American champions sat on the tarmac at LAX.
The math looks like this:
Wednesday’s Cup Final kicked off at 7:45 p.m. PT. When the whistle sounded at the end of LAFC’s gutsy 2-1 win at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati Saturday night, the clocks in LA read 6:45 p.m. The Black & Gold had put in three-and-a-half hours of high-intensity football – in just 71 hours. With a postponed four-hour flight mixed in for good measure.
“It shows a lot of character and mentality in the group,” Steve Cherundolo said after Saturday’s win, which clinched LAFC’s spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs. “It also shows where the team’s and individual players’ priorities lie—namely, with the team and for the club.
If the team can recharge its batteries, Cherundolo added, “I really like our chances to go far in the MLS Cup, because the team has shown that they want this, they like to win, and they are willing to put in the effort, play out of position, run for 90 minutes, defend, suffer ... Those are very good signs at this stage of the season, and I couldn't be prouder of the group this week.”
The starting eleven Cherundolo sent onto the rainy pitch in Cincinnati spoke volumes. Maxime Chanot—one of the most valuable acquisitions LAFC has added in 2024—started in the middle of the back line, next to fullback Sergi Palencia, who like Chanot had put in a heroic 120-minute performance in the midweek Cup Final. Palencia had not started a game at center back in years.
The patchwork midfield included Cristian Olivera, the swift Uruguayan who usually starts at forward. The starting front line consisted of Kei Kamara and two wingers (David Martínez and Mati Bogusz) whose combined ages matched his own.
Under these constraints, LAFC proceeded to play lights out in the first half against one of Major League Soccer’s strongest sides. “For me, not even being in the game,” said Hollingshead, who had also played 120 minutes Wednesday night, “watching that first half—that was one of our best first halves as a team in terms of the way we were playing, the way we were connecting.”
Scoring chances flowed forth from LAFC’s attack. Dangerous buildup followed dangerous buildup. The breakthrough came in the 34th minute, when the 18-year-old Martínez benefited from a give-and-go in midfield between Kamara and Lewis O’Brien and slotted a left-footed shot past Cincy keeper Roman Celentano. “I was able to take on the center back one on one, and then just take a clean shot,” Martínez said in Spanish. “It was an important goal for our confidence.”
More chances followed – even though LAFC’s Golden Boot contender, the tireless and hyper-competitive Denis Bouanga, had been forced to sit next to Hollingshead and watch. “Denis always wants to play,” Cherundolo said. “He never wants to rest. And he was quite upset with me about not starting, and that's okay.
“Freshness and making sure he's getting enough rest makes him better— and that makes us better … When he loses his explosiveness, he is still extremely good and we're happy to have him and he can be dangerous and score goals, but with explosiveness and freshness, he's unstoppable.”
Bouanga proved his manager right, replacing Martínez at halftime before finishing past Celentano at an impossible angle in the 73rd minute to break a 1-1 tie and provide the final margin of victory.
“I couldn't be prouder of the group this week,” Cherundolo said. “We had some travel issues yesterday. They dealt with that extremely well after only one training session before this game. To come here and play like we did in the first half and to finish the game out like we did—absolutely fantastic. Couldn't be happier.”
Wednesday night’s championship match didn’t sap the team’s energy, Martínez said, it refilled it. “It definitely motivated us,” he said. “It was a final that we absolutely had to win coming off losing a final. Winning, then coming to Cincinnati gave us confidence. Cincinnati has a strong team but we do too. Coming out with the result tonight was what we had in mind.”
“Our legs were incredibly heavy,” Hollingshead said. “Delayed flight, playing the final, guys kind of beat up and battered. I thought for the full 90 minutes, the response from the guys was unbelievable. To put together a result like that on the road, in that quick of a turnaround, is huge for us going forward. It’ll be a big boost in our confidence going into playoffs and will give us a ton of momentum to go fight for another cup.
“We know how good we are, but a win like this I think gives us proof.”
LAFC returns to BMO Stadium on Wednesday, October 2, to take on St. Louis CITY SC. The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
