After a thrilling 4-4 draw with Vancouver that saw LAFC come back twice from two-goal deficits, the squad was back in training to prepare for its first preseason away match on Sunday against Sacramento Republic FC.
At training, Bob Bradley reflected on the progress of his team.
“Based upon my picture of what a good team and good football are all about, we have a lot of work to do,” Bradley said after Wednesday’s session. “But I also look at moments in every game, and I see things that show signs of catching on. Positives signs.”
Against the Whitecaps, LAFC dominated possession for long stretches of the match. But Vancouver forwards Anthony Blondell and Yordi Reyna made the most of their few chances with two goals apiece. The conceding of four goals came down to a “series of reactions” in Bradley’s eyes.
“When you have the ball, it’s decisions. It’s quality. It’s finding space. It’s timing. It’s all these things,” Bradley said. “It’s a product of a lot of things. I couldn’t even put my finger on one single cause.”
Despite letting in the four goals, LAFC battled back with a brace from Carlos Vela and Latif Blessing’s first strike in Black & Gold, before Benny Feilhaber forced an own goal to secure the draw. The up and down nature of the match epitomized Bradley's assessment of his team’s progress in preseason.
“It’s never linear,” Bradley said. “It’s not like you work on page one, and then when you finish with page one, you go to page two. You work in different ways to keep trying to move the package of what is a good team forward.”
LAFC will look to continue moving forward with its final preseason game on Sunday in Sacramento. Then the following week, it’s on to Seattle to face the Sounders in the first regular season match in Club history.
News & Notes
- Aaron Kovar returned to full training and is available to play in Sacramento.
- Laurent Ciman is progressing towards full training after sitting out the last two preseason matches with an MCL problem in his right knee.
- Omar Gaber is also close to rejoining the squad for full training following a month long absence. After training on Wednesday, the Egyptian international talked about how excited he was to get back on the pitch: “Especially since it’s still a new team, I think I was unlucky to be out four weeks, but still I feel like one of the team. We are like one family. All of the players speak with me and talk to me, the technical staff as well. So I think I was unlucky, but I hope that soon I will be back."
