The Black & Gold, in the slowest start in franchise history before they host Nashville SC on Saturday, are confident they'll return to their winning ways
LOS ANGELES — If you have serious concerns about the Los Angeles Football Club’s underwhelming opening month, chances are you don’t work at their performance center.
Shut out in three consecutive matches, with just four out of a possible 12 points on the season heading into a Saturday evening contest at BMO Stadium against the stingy Nashville SC (1-0-3, 6 points), whatever hand-wringing exists over the slowest start in LAFC history is not coming from the team.
“We’ve been thrown off the last few weeks and we’re trying to get to the bottom of what that is,” said Ante Razov, an LAFC assistant coach in his seventh year on the staff. “But it’s a long season. We’ve all been through this for a long time. Nobody is really panicking about where we are.”
Listed among the top 10 all-time leading scorers in Major League Soccer, Razov has contributed from the bench since 2018 while LAFC compiled the most wins and points in the league through early-season action.
After connecting on the only two goals LAFC has this year – their fewest after a handful of games is five, when the 2021 squad started 1-2-2 and missed the postseason for the only time in club history – an MLS record-setting seventh consecutive opening-day victory seems like ages ago.
In the meantime, per midfielder Ilie Sanchez’s observations from practice, LAFC (1-2-1) did not forget how to score, defend in the box or secure three points.
“It may look naive to say ‘I’m not worried’ or ‘Everything is going to be fine,’” said Sanchez, who slipped on the captain’s armband in each of LAFC’s four matches. “But because I have arguments, I can come here and tell you guys this is going to work. I’m seeing it every day. We just need to see it more weekends than not.”
Coming off a substandard performance in Minnesota last Saturday, LAFC engaged in another set of weeklong training sessions, which the coaching staff expects will benefit everyone as the year progresses.
“That’s why there’s no real panic,” Razov explained. “We are working daily to try and get this thing on the right track. It’s not very far.”
Better control on the ball, connecting passes, maintaining concentration and avoiding what Razov described as “bizarre and rare” mental lapses when LAFC is pressing, generally on opposing goal kicks, remain points of emphasis.
Wingers Denis Bouanga and Cristian Olivera have not scored despite trying more than half of the team’s 58 shots. A quarter of Bouanga’s 20 attempts hit the target, a far cry from last year’s Golden Boot campaign when he placed 40% of his shots on frame. Slow out of the gate, Bouanga has had a run of tough luck, too, as five shots collided with a post or the crossbar.
Credited by Cherundolo for priming the LAFC attack, Razov believes the group is “almost too eager to go forward when we’re not really prepared. We have two very fast wingers that at times outrun their coverage and so we’re trying to find ways to enter the field of play with control mixed as balanced, which is the hardest thing to do in our sport – to play fast and have possession. That’s what’s kind of separated us from the rest of the league in the successful years and we’re working on that and that’s always a challenge.”
When: 7:39 p.m. Saturday
Where: BMO Stadium
TV/radio: Apple TV (MLS Season Pass)/710 AM, 980 AM,
