If this team ever figures out how to perform on the road, the MLS is going to be in some real trouble. It might even start to look like vintage Los Angeles Football Club out here. Alas, another week on the road has come and gone without the squad notching one in the win column. In the grand scheme, two things can be true. Yes, a point on the road to a Conference foe is nothing to feel bad about. However, given the course of the season, and in particular, how the match went, there is surely disappointment as the team continue to struggle with consistency in the early stages of the campaign.
Hard-earned point away from home.#PORvLAFC pic.twitter.com/GGIDothQ6J
— LAFC (@LAFC) April 13, 2024
Put aside for a moment the fact the team is winless on the road, something we will get into soon, but just taking their performances into consideration, this is a completely different team on the road. Historically, LAFC have always been a team that has done better at home, which is a big reason why the 3252 are as widely known as they are, and why every team in the league knows going into LA to get a result is an uphill climb at best. Through eight matches, the black & gold have had an even split, with a back-and-forth balance to start the year. In the four home matches the team have put on 80 shots with 34 finding their target. It’s not just the shots either, but making the most of them. Nine of the team’s 13 goals have come at home, making them the threat we all thought they would be coming into the season.
Then, you look at them on the road and its a bit like the doge meme. At home they are the buffed out version that never misses arm day, but away from LA they are the whimpering puppy just happy for a point. Perhaps harsh, but true. Head Coach Steve Cherundolo has said he doesn’t count the opening road match in the blizzard against Real Salt Lake, but he might want to change that tune for the exercise. If we leave that game out, the team have mustered just 44 shots on the road, with 14 finding the target. That’s just about half the production across the board. If we count RSL, which of course we will, the team has 60 shots with 20 on target while the visiting team, with just four goals to show for it all.
Ghosts of the past
`What all that does, is support what we see with our eyes. After some early struggles, the team has seemingly figured it out at home. Back-to-back wins, one five goal rout of Nashville, the other a 2-1 win over the rival Galaxy. They will once again get to prove that true this weekend when they host the New York Red Bulls. It’s the road trips that have been an issue and not just this season either. In 2023 LAFC were a mere 4-6-7 away from BMO, and while they did finish third in the conference, and will themselves through a playoff run, the final was another one of those road woe matches, in the biggest match of the year.
There was also immense pressure to not slip up at all at home, because it was so unbalanced. This isn’t to doom, but merely to point out the same team that can put five past anyone, or come up with massive wins over unbeaten rivals, at home, is the team seemingly incapable of playing even the most basic of football when on the road, and that is a problem. That is, if the end goal is to lift trophies. It was that issue that factored into the missed opportunities of lifting several trophies last season.
Opportunities too good to miss
Even with the awful form on the road, what really makes this past weekend disappointing is the way the match played out. The team went into the halftime break down 1-2, and while the Timbers were looking the classier side, LAFC were hanging around and looked good for at least a draw. Then, they got the breakiest break, that has ever broke, just three minutes into the second half when former LAFC keeper Maxime Crepeau was shown a red card and escorted out of the match. That meant two things, backup goalkeeper time, and LAFC then had what was essentially an entire half to comeback and not just get a draw, but find a way to get the full three points. This was their chance to really kickstart the season.
⬆️⬇️ Up and Down
Mateusz Bogusz with a stunning free kick goal 🎯 pic.twitter.com/p2LHnoM3Af
— LAFC (@LAFC) April 13, 2024
They did get their equalizer, from a free kick that was the soccer equivalent to a free throw. In fairness, Bogusz did a masterful job in getting the ball up and over the wall, freezing the opposing keeper for the goal. That would be the only chance converted of the 12 attempts taken in the half. True, Portland sat back and defended for their lives, but this is supposed to be an LAFC that can score in the worst of circumstances. A team built on the premise of outscoring opponents, and yet with an entire half of an 11 to 10 advantage, they muster one goal. From a set piece. It’s matches like this, moments like that, where you hope you don’t look back at season’s end saying ‘what if.’
History has shown that LAFC is much like the high school kid that spent a bit too much time partying so they have to cram the last month, and somehow still end up with a B on the final exam. That is to say, where they are in the standings will most certainly change throughout he course of the season, so that isn’t the concern. What is, though, is at this rate the team will need to go unbeaten at home from this point forward just to have a chance at making the playoffs. Albeit likely without a homefield advantage to play with. At some point, the issues if not completely solved, need to be resolved to help this team find some consistency this year.
Thoughts on the form on the road? Leave a comment below!