While it may seem like several seasons ago, it wasn’t not two months ago when LAFC looked like a team set for a season fighting amidst the bottom dwellers than a team looking to fight for top spot in MLS. Their road form was atrocious, their form at home wasn’t much better, their high paid stars looked disinterested at times, and the anxiety started to fill the air with every stumbling performance. But oh how fast it can all change in soccer, especially when you play in a league like the MLS.
📹 When Hugo and Denis heard the news ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/Iy39xfSiVi
— LAFC (@LAFC) July 1, 2024
Not just hyperbole
It isn’t just opinion, or a wildly hot take to suggest the team lacked from their stars early on in the season. LAFC Head Coach Steve Cherundolo himself was sitting in front of media several times, publicly imploring those who were brought in to change the course of any given match, to start doing just that. Legendary goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was brought in to replace not just one, but two incredibly solid options between the posts, and he was looking like a massive mistake not too long ago.
On May 6th, not even two months ago, Lloris was, factually, the worst goalkeeper in the MLS. The Frenchman was dead last in shot-stopping on non-penalty situations. He faced 46 shots, had conceded 17 goals with an expected concession of 14.39, and actually prevented negative goals with -2.61. He was, at the time, 29th amongst all goalkeepers. It also didn’t help that at the opposite end a man the team paid a lot of money to find the back of the net, was coming up with nothing early on. Denis Bouanga went deeper in the season than many had hoped without seeing a goal. The two players pegged early on as leaders on this LAFC, were more liability than reasons the team saw points. Then San Jose happened. A match so disheartening it truly felt like rock bottom for the squad. A moment that, despite being early on in the season, felt like one where the team would either continue to crumble into oblivion, or they would find a way to play with some pride, and get it figured out. Lucky for all of us, it was the latter.
Complete and total 180
In what I can only presume was like a scene out of the original Space Jam, Steve Cherundolo must have walked into the training center with a soccer ball in his hand, telling the Starting XI to ‘touch it.’ After some convincing they must have done so and gotten their abilities back from whatever alien lifeform stole them in the first place, because seemingly overnight the team got back to winning. After the disastrous 3-1 loss to San Jose, LAFC went on to win the next eight matches, with six of those matches coming in shutout fashion.
Denis Bouanga figured if he couldn’t score he would get others going, and did exactly that with his new partner in crime Mateusz Bogusz. A couple of well time services led to some Bogusz bangers, which led to him wanting to return the favor and get Bouanga involved. What resulted was the same eight match stretch saw Denis Bouanga find the back of the net five times, with Bogusz going wild with four goals, and even more assists. The six shutouts weren’t just the product of good defense either. Hugo Lloris was tired of the slander and started to show his World Cup pedigree coming up with some performances that left us wondering when he found time to turn back the clock.
Penalty Kick Save ✔️
Road Win ✔️
Back-to-Back Clean Sheets ✔️Huge night for Hugo Lloris 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/iM5BPBjYSy
— LAFC (@LAFC) May 16, 2024
As we sit now, two months after that loss, just a few days away from the biggest match of the season, the rivalry match against MLS originals, LA Galaxy, the black & gold still have not faltered. 11 matches unbeaten, with just one draw. Every match they have looked like the best team on the pitch, and with each result they look better and better. When speaking to media after the latest win, Head Coach Steve Cherundolo talked about his team going into this big week. “Form is real” he started, “some players are in form, some are not. More importantly the team is in form, and that’s what we tend to look at most as coaches.”
According to Cherundolo, as long as the team as a whole is performing, it helps out the individual performances throughout the squad. “When the team is in form, the individuals will always profit. You have to look at the group as a whole, if they are moving as a collective or if they’re separated.” Now, the team get ready for the biggest test of the regular season. In recent years, LA Galaxy have come in underdogs, this year, this is a battle between the two top teams in the Western Conference. Far more than bragging rights on the line, but we will have more on that, later.
Thoughts on the team’s turnaround in recent weeks? Leave a comment below!