LAFC suffered a 3-2 loss to the Colorado Rapids on Saturday afternoon at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, CO. Eduard Atuesta and David Martinez scored for LAFC, but Djordje Mihailovic, who assisted on Colorado’s opening goal, scored a pair of goals in the final 10 minutes to give the Rapids the win.
With the loss, LAFC is now 2-3-1 (W-L-T) for seven points.
LAFC had not won in Colorado since the Club’s inaugural 2018 season, but LAFC found itself up 1-0 in the 8th minute when Atuesta scored his second goal in as many games. The Colombian midfielder collected a short pass from Timothy Tillman near the corner of the box before deking past a Rapids’ defender and curling a right-footed shot inside the far post to give his team the lead.
LAFC would continue to threaten the Colorado goal, but it was the Rapids who would score next as Moise Bombito headed a Mihailovic corner kick in at the near post in the 38th minute to send the game into halftime level at 1-1.
The score would stay that way until the 76th minute when David Martinez, who had entered the game 13 minutes earlier, gave LAFC a 2-1 lead with his first-ever goal for the Club. The 18-year-old Venezuelan collected a pass from Atuesta on the right wing and cut inside on his left before splitting a pair of defenders and placing a shot just inside the far post.
However, the Rapids would answer back seven minutes later when Mihailovic fired home a free kick from the edge of the box, tying the score at 2-2 in the 83rd minute. Two minutes later, LAFC was reduced to 10 men when Martinez was shown his second yellow card; and in the 89th minute, the Rapids took advantage of that with Mihailovic scoring from close range to give his team the victory.
LAFC will be back in action on Saturday, April 6, when the club hosts the LA Galaxy at BMO Stadium at 4:30 p.m. PT (Apple TV, FOX, 710 AM ESPN LA, 980 AM).
NEWS & NOTES
- This was head coach Steve Cherundolo’s 100th game in charge of LAFC in all competitions. In those 100 games, Cherundolo has a record of 52-30-18, including a 37-22-15 record in the MLS regular season.
- Eduard Atuesta now has two goals on the season, leaving him one shy of tying his MLS career high of three that was set in 2019.
- Atuesta has scored in each his of his last two games. This is the first time in his MLS career that he has scored in consecutive games.
- Atuesta also had an assist in the game, setting up the second-half goal by David Martinez. This is the third time in Atuesta’s 102 regular-season appearances that he had a goal and an assist in the same game.
- Atuesta’s assist on LAFC’s second goal was the 23rd regular-season assist of his LAFC career. He is now tied with Latif Blessing for the second-most assists in club history.
- David Martinez scored his first goal for the club in the 76th minute. At 18 years and 52 days old, Martinez is the second-youngest player to score for LAFC in a regular-season game. Only Christian Torres, who scored at Portland on October 18, 2020, at 16 years and 186 days old, scored for LAFC at a younger age.
- Kei Kamara, who officially signed with the club on Friday, came on in the 77th minute to make his LAFC debut. This is the 11th different MLS club that Kamara has played for.
- At 39 years and 210 days old, Kamara is now the oldest player ever to appear in an MLS regular-season game for LAFC, breaking the former record that was held by Giorgio Chiellini.
