Los Angeles FC spent most of this year atop the Major League Soccer standings. The star-studded club eventually claimed the Supporters’ Shield as the league’s regular season champions for the second time.
Only seven of the last 26 MLS regular-season champions also raised the MLS Cup, and only two teams have done it in the past decade. LAFC also won the Supporters’ Shield in its second season of existence under coach Bob Bradley in 2019, but then lost to Seattle in the Western Conference finals.
Cherundolo grew up in Southern California, but he spent most of his adult life as a player and coach in Germany, where regular season success is the ultimate goal. That's the case in about three-quarters of the world's domestic leagues, including every top European league. With that background in mind, Cherundolo tells his players to think about the playoffs not as an extension of the regular season, but a Cup competition with a separate narrative and outcome. “Every title means something, and to me, they’re all the same,” said Cherundolo, who broke the MLS record for victories by a first-year head coach. “The teams that I’m coaching, we’ll try to win every single competition we play in. They all mean something, so I don’t really put one above the other. ... We have forgotten that . We have put that on the shelf in the building, and we are moving on, and that means nothing on Thursday.” LAFC got a brutal matchup for the first of a potential three playoff rounds: The club begins at home against the Galaxy, who steamed into the playoffs in their best form of the year. LAFC has won just one of its last six meetings with the Galaxy, who lost just once in their final 11 games of the regular season before beating Nashville last weekend in the opening playoff round. Coach Greg Vanney's club is rolling behind Javier “Chicharito” Hernández and Riqui Puig, the electrifying 23-year-old midfielder newly arrived from Barcelona. “They’ve changed some pieces, but it’s still the same game,” Cherundolo said of the Galaxy. “They’ve changed a little bit in their progression and positional play ... but at this stage of the season, nobody is trying to reinvent themselves. I think they have a little more confidence than they had in the middle of the season." LAFC isn't in top form, winning just three of its final nine matches before trying to stay sharp during its current 11-day break with an opening-round playoff bye. The parallels to the Dodgers' circumstances are remarkable, but Cherundolo is still confident his top players will perform when needed most. Gareth Bale hasn't been a major factor since the longtime Real Madrid winger moved stateside in the summer. The captain of Wales' World Cup squad has started only twice in 12 appearances while playing 347 total minutes, and while he scored two goals early in his tenure, he is scoreless in his last eight games. Italian star Giorgio Chiellini has contributed more, making nine starts in central defense and clearly having a leadership impact on his younger teammates since arriving from Juventus during the summer. But LAFC is loaded with talent, and top goal-scorers Vela and Cristian Arango are healthy and ready to lead this team as if it's got nothing to lose Thursday. “As players, we live for the big games,” LAFC midfielder Kellyn Acosta said. “It's more excitement than nervousness. It's serious in a sense, but we're having fun out there. We play a child's game for a living.”
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