Welcome everyone, to a brand new series here on Angels on Parade that we are calling, ‘In Retrospect.’ While recaps are always a handy way to get a quick rundown of the match, key moments, while also getting a sense for how the match played out, we wanted a space to offer a bit more. A chance to really get our hands dirty with every match. An opportunity to give deeper opinions, talk more in depth on the tactics, observations, and talk about what the team had to say immediately following each match. Think of it like a recap, with an extra scoop of sauce on top. So, let’s get right into it with this past weekend’s snowy affair in Sandy, RSL v LAFC.
— LAFC (@LAFC) March 4, 2024
If you missed Saturday’s match one, congratulations on preserving your peace like that, and two, you missed one of the more wild matches we have seen in the MLS in a while. The league even broke out the fabled orange ball for the occasion, so you know visibility was at an all-time low. LAFC Head Coach Steve Cherundolo didn’t hide his feelings on the conditions in his post match press conference. “I’m not sure there are positives other than we had no injuries” said Cherundolo. “It was not difficult conditions, it was impossible conditions” he went on to say, “an absolute joke we had to play today. Not safe for the players, one of the worst professional sporting events I have seen in my life, I feel terrible for the players for putting them through this.”
Those are pretty damning words, and if you saw the match, he wasn’t wrong. Sure, as a fan the “snow game” has become a bit of novelty for outdoor sports. We hear about the lauded frozen tundra in American football, and for the MLS, it’s always a ‘fun, chaotic time’ whenever we get the orange ball out, but for players it’s mostly hell. 10-yaer veteran defender, Ryan Hollingshead, had never experienced a match like this before “never played in anything like that before” he said ” I don’t think you can call that football.”
As you can tell, LAFC were not too thrilled with having to play in the middle of a blizzard, and it doesn’t make it any better the team got trounced, 3-0. The match itself was one you just write off and forget about if you’re the squad. You just count your lucky stars you got out of there without incident, and move on like it never happened. With justification too, not just because of the weather, but the performance as well. LAFC very much looked like a team from Los Angeles, struggling to find themselves on the pitch, like a newborn fawn learning to walk for the first time.
First snow game ❄️ pic.twitter.com/2mxtQiXkQ6
— LAFC (@LAFC) March 3, 2024
In all honesty, kicking off this new series with a match like this one is pretty difficult because as Ryan Hollingshead said “you can’t analyze that game, you can’t take video from that game, there wasn’t a single football action in that game.” Ironically, when it comes to football actions, LAFC finished the match with more shots (16) than RSL, and both had the same amount of shots on target. However, Hollingshead isn’t wrong. As we talked about before, almost all of the first half for LAFC was spent, literally, trying to find their footing. When they finally did settle themselves, they had an outstanding second half, which is what we can analyze. The team’s mentality.
Usually, I hate trying to pick apart something as intangible as a professional athlete’s mentality, but when it is as obvious as it was for LAFC, you have to talk about it. As harsh as it sounds, those three goals in the first half absolutely could have been prevented. The idea that a snow game is RSL’s homefield advantage doesn’t really hold weight. Sure, the last time MLS saw a snow game in 2020, it was in Sandy for an RSL home match, but they ended up losing that one 0-2 to Sporting KC. From the moment the match kicked off, Los Angeles were a team that looked like they wanted to be anywhere else but playing that match.
From the comments after the match, they aren’t really trying to hide that fact. Coming into any match with that energy is always going to be a detriment to your squad, especially in adverse conditions like a snowstorm. Real Salt Lake took full advantage and put three past in the first half. “We got to be better in those moments, be a little bit grittier, understand what it takes. We have guys who’ve never seen snow in their lives playing in a game like this” said Hollinghead. To be fair, and perhaps what really makes the result frustrating, is that LAFC came out for the second half with that exact mentality.
The final 45 minutes were a complete 180 for the black & gold, who still looked like a team that didn’t want to be there, but were playing much more like a team determined to overcome. They played sharper, kept their feet under them, and started making strides to really attack the goal. Two of RSL’s goals came in the last five minutes of the first half, and you get the sense that if LAFC could have gone into the break down just a goal, maybe even two, there was a chance to salvage a result.
The biggest takeaway for LAFC in this match needs to be the focus on mentality. It’s a bad habit we saw this club go through a couple of years ago, where every obstacle meant hung heads and poor performances. Over recent years the team has been able to shake off that trait, but it seemed to ream its head once again this past weekend. The goal going forward should be making sure the team goes into every half with more of the mentality they had in the second half in Sandy, and far less of that first half defeatism.
Thoughts on the new series? The match in Utah? Leave a comment below!
1 Comment
Great addition to your LAFC and soccer coverage. It allows you to address areas of concern without putting them in match review. Good job…