Admin
Forty-five minutes wasn’t nearly enough for LAFC captain Aaron Long to find the words to describe a season that was both magical and maddening, a season that reached new heights and yet ended in disappointment and upset.
So he didn’t even try.
“It’s tough right now,” he said after Saturday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Seattle Sounders in the MLS Western Conference semifinals at a sold-out BMO Stadium. “It will leave a bitter taste in your mouth.”
LAFC reached the finals of the Leagues Cup and the US Open Cup, winning the latter. It finished at the top of the conference table in the regular season, winning 19 games. Only one team won more.
Those are great achievements. But what LAFC really wanted was a trip to a third straight MLS Cup final, something no team has done in seventeen years. However, Seattle’s Jordan Morris dashed those hopes four minutes into the second overtime, sending the Sounders through to next weekend’s conference finals.
Read more: Lionel Messi and his best teammates were sent off, proving you can’t buy an MLS Cup
Seattle will play the winner of the second conference semifinal between the Galaxy and Minnesota United on Sunday.
“Just looking at this season – getting to two finals, winning a trophy, winning the West – I think every team signs up for that season, right? It’s a great season,” Long said. “But we are so greedy as footballers and we always want more. We want this back.”
Especially since LAFC dominated in virtually every phase of the match, taking 26 shots, twice as many as Seattle, and putting 10 of them on target. But few of them caused problems for Seattle goalie Stefan Frei, who tied a playoff career high with nine saves.
“You did enough to win the game,” LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo said. “Created enough chances, also many set pieces, which were close a few times. So in the end I think it’s fair to say we beat ourselves.”
And in the aftermath, Cherundolo also struggled to turn the page.
“We’re disappointed for our fans that we couldn’t play a few more games at home,” said Cherundolo, whose team had home field advantage through the MLS Cup. “It was a really great opportunity for us this season, but that’s sport. Sometimes you lose. You can’t always win.
“We will regroup and assess this season, which I think has been extremely positive overall. That’s what I just said to the guys. It was another fantastic season and we will try to do the same next year, with a better ending.”
The end of this season felt like a dagger between the shoulder blades, and that honor goes to the scrappy Sounders. As they have done throughout the playoffs, they often bent but never broke. They beat Houston in the first round, winning both matches on penalties, and looked set to return to a decisive shootout on Saturday before Morris, whose participation was deemed doubtful earlier this week, resigned.
The forward came out of Seattle’s playoff opener last month with a hamstring injury, but with the MLS postseason paused for FIFA’s international break, the Sounders had three weeks off, which proved enough time for Morris to heal. LAFC, playing for the 50th time this season, went 15 days between games, long enough for some players to complain of lost momentum and rhythm.
After a scoreless first half in which it did not put a shot on target, LAFC took a 1-0 lead in the 50th minute on Ryan Hollingshead’s goal. That seemed like a good omen considering LAFC had lost just twice in 23 MLS games when it scored first. But defender Maxime Chanot gave the lead back nine minutes later, putting his right foot in front of an Obed Vargas cross that was aimed at no one in particular and deflecting it into his own goal to level the score with half an hour remaining to go.
That mistake gave life to the Sounders, who didn’t put a shot on goal until just before Morris scored in the second overtime from the 39th minute.
“We limited them really well at that point. So it just gave them a lot of belief,” Long said of the own goal. “It’s no different than any other goal you give up. It just gives a team a little bit of life on the other end. You want that momentum.”
LAFC kept the pressure on, but Frei would not be defeated.
LAFC had not lost to Seattle in the last ten tries – including all nine with Cherundolo on the sidelines; The Sounders’ only previous win at BMO Stadium came in the 2019 Western Conference semifinals, which also marked the last time LAFC lost a playoff game at home. But Frei single-handedly evened those chances, making an extended one-handed save on Long’s shot in the 87th minute to keep the match level.
That set the stage for Morris’ decisive score, which came after LAFC’s Ilie Sánchez headed a corner kick into the top of the box. Seattle’s Cristian Roldan knocked the ball back into the box, where LAFC’s Kei Kamara unsuccessfully fought a Seattle defender for the ball and deflected it towards Morris, who turned left and fired a right-footed shot just inside the far post. The goal was his ninth in the postseason, tying him with teammate Raúl Ruidíaz for most active MLS players.
Read more: LAFC co-founder takes a different approach with the launch of San Diego FC
It also kept the Sounders undefeated in their last ten games and sent them to the conference finals for the first time since 2020. For LAFC, their second loss in three playoff games means they will not play in an MLS Cup final for the first time. time since Cherundolo took over after the 2021 season.
“It hurts. It’s disappointing,” the coach said of the loss, which left people looking ahead not to the next play-off game, but to next season.
“We feel good where we are,” he continued, finally turning the page. “We look forward to fielding a stronger team next year.”
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
Admin
