How Cherundolo won the tactical battle against Vanney

LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo continues to make a case for himself as 2022 MLS Coach of the Year. A finalist for the award, the 43-year-old led the Black & Gold to its second-ever Supporters' Shield while breaking the record for most wins by a first-year head coach with 21 victories during his first season in MLS.

After defeating the LA Galaxy in a memorable playoff derby, LAFC booked a ticket to the Western Conference Final to be played on Sunday, Oct. 30 at Banc of California Stadium, against whoever wins Sunday's Austin FC vs. FC Dallas matchup.

Although just in his first year as a professional coach, Cherundolo's experience with the youth national teams in Germany has played a critical role in his team's playing philosophy and success on the field.

On Thursday night, Cherundolo went up against Greg Vanney, one of the most respected coaches in the league. A former MLS Cup champion and Coach of the Year himself, Vanney's eight years of experience as a head coach in MLS appeared to give him the edge over the rookie manager in the second-ever playoff El Trafico. During the first half, you could argue it did, as the Galaxy dominated possession and limited LAFC to very few scoring opportunities. 

However, Cherundolo has shown himself to be very good at making tactical adjustments during halftime to address his team's first-half issues. LAFC has been a second-half team all season long, scoring 68 percent of its goals during the final 45 minutes of the game. Against the Galaxy, that trend continued, as Cherundolo's modifications were the key for the Black & Gold to advance to the next round.

Too passive defensively

In the first half of Thursday's march, not much went right for the Black & Gold. LAFC allowed the Galaxy's midfield too much time and space on the ball, which gave the likes of Riqui Puig and Gaston Brugman the real estate to operate and create danger. As a result, the visitors ended up with over 60 percent of possession during the first 45 minutes.

"In the first half, we allowed the Galaxy to be too comfortable in the midfield," admitted midfielder Kellyn Acosta. "We weren't getting tight enough so they were able to connect some passes."

Galaxy's midfield trio of Brugman, Puig, and Delgado combined for a total of 125 touches during the first half, while LAFC's midfield trio of Acosta, Cifuentes, and Ilie combined for a total of only 59 touches, less than half of their opponent. The Galaxy was literally passing its way around the LAFC players and seemed to win every second ball. To the eye test, the Galaxy was the team that wanted it more.

"In the middle of the park, we weren't as tight and aggressive as we wanted to be," acknowledged Cherundolo. "We didn't win enough balls as we wanted to."

The Galaxy's constant press forced LAFC into playing long balls over the top and turning the ball over in its own half as well, including a few poor giveaways from Jose Cifuentes in the early stages of the match. The home team ran more than the visitors, but not by choice, as the Black & Gold failed to get pressure on the ball due to the quick play of the Galaxy.

Although LAFC was the first team to get on the scoresheet, the Black & Gold attack lacked ideas in the final third as the front three of Bouanga, Vela and Arango seemed disconnected and relied on more individual plays. With the Black & Gold sitting too deep in its own half, the Galaxy equalized right before halftime and left all to play for in the second half.

Cherundolo's adjustment

Around the 50th minute, Cherundolo instructed his midfield to execute the plan that was talked about during halftime. In an effort to close off the space that Puig and Brugman had in the first half and have more possession of the ball, Cherundolo reshaped his midfield. Normally, LAFC plays with one defensive midfielder in Ilie, and two box-to-box midfielders in Acosta and Cifuentes. Against the Galaxy, Cherundolo partnered up Acosta with Ilie and pushed Cifuentes up the field.

"We switched to two 6's and one clear 10, which seemed to solve the issues we had in the first half," said Cherundolo. "It enabled our forwards  to be more engaged with the Galaxy's backline and allowed our backline to step up and not concede too much passing in the middle of the park."

The adjustment worked to perfection as it gave the green light to the likes of outside backs Ryan Hollingshead and Diego Palacios to get higher up the field and play with a higher backline. LAFC started to win more second balls in the midfield and set the tempo for the remainder of the game by getting aggressive and not allowing Galaxy's midfield to pass around them.

"In the second half, we made some minor adjustments where we were able to build pressure," stated Acosta. "We played with a double 6 so we could contain Brugman and put pressure on Puig and Delgado to force them side to side and make their play more predictable. It was a tactical change that allowed us to have more control of the midfield."

Patience is a virtue

Cherundolo's strategy of playing the waiting game turned out to be the right move against the Galaxy. Vanney made his first substitution in the 57th minute when he replaced Douglas Costa with Kevin Cabral, who did not have a major impact on the match. Ten minutes later, Vanney subbed off his only remaining winger and inserted Victor Vazquez in the midfield. 

"They made a bunch of changes and sort of became unraveled tactically," said Cherundolo. "We hadn't made any subs yet in that moment of the game."

Vanney's decision to change personnel also caused adjustments in the shape of the midfield. In the first half, Grandsir and Costa were able to stretch the backline of LAFC with play from the wing. With the change, Vanney opted to clog the midfield in a diamond shape formation that dropped Brugman into a more defensive role and allowed Vazquez to play as the No. 10. Cherundolo decided to wait.

"We felt the guys on the field were doing a good job and we gave them their moment," commented Cherundolo. "Although it was a little contrary to how we had done things during the course of the season, I think it was the right move to wait and to trust the players on the field."

Cherundolo finally made his first move in the 77th minute by bringing on Kwadwo Opoku to expose the space left on the flanks with the departures of Acosta and Grandsir from the game. LAFC maintained the aggression and pressure on the Galaxy in the final minutes and turned the match in their favor with Cherundolo's changes.

Cherundolo makes Vanney pay

When Cherundolo realized that Vanney had subbed off both of his wingers, who were dropping down to help defensively, he gave his fullbacks the green light to push forward. With the lack of wide play and a more centrally-focused approach, Galaxy's outside backs attempted to multi-task and push up the field as well, a decision they would regret after LAFC's go-ahead goal in the 79th minute.

First, Cifuentes battled with Araujo to win a second ball in the midfield and laid it off to Palacios, who threaded a pass to Arango in the final third. With Araujo out of position, Bouanga was left unmarked inside the box and was able to finish a cross from Hollingshead, who had overlapped on the right side to take the space that Grandsir would've covered. It was a perfect example of Cherundolo's tactical intelligence and awareness, which enabled the ideas of the players to flourish in a critical moment of the match.

"I felt the way we came out in the second half, where we stepped up a little higher and pressed, changed our organization in the midfield," said Cherundolo. "We had a very good hold of the tempo of the game. Our performance, aggression, and ideas in the second half gave us an edge, and that was the difference."

Chicho saves the day

With only ten minutes remaining and facing a one-goal deficit, Vanney had no choice but to play for all the marbles, and that included subbing in Dejan Joveljic into the match. One minute later, Vanney looked like a genius when his super sub scored the tying goal in the 85th minute. The connection of fresh legs between Vazquez and Joveljic exposed a fatigued and worn-out midfield of Ilie, Acosta, and Cifuentes. It was a time of the match when legs were starting to get heavy and thoughts of extra time was looming.

Prior to the Galaxy's goal, LAFC was already applying pressure on the visitors' backline and earned several corner kicks in the process, including one early in the half where Cifuentes missed a wide-open header inside the box. The Black & Gold only had one corner kick in the first half, but in the second half, they'd raised that number to six, confirming their improvement in the offensive end from the first half thanks to the adjustment by Cherundolo.

"We had a few corner kicks that were pretty dangerous," said Acosta. "I knew that if I could put [the ball] in a good area, one of the big boys will go in there and score the goal. Chicho scored a big goal for us."

The last of those corner kicks came in the 93rd minute, when Acosta's inswinging cross found Bouanga, whose first-time volley was initially blocked by Bond. For starters, Bouanga was unmarked on the back post when he took his shot and that was just the beginning of nightmare defending from the Galaxy. When Bond spilled out the rebound, two LAFC players, Hollingshead and Arango, were wide open inside the six-yard box. Arango, who has scored critical goals all season, slotted the ball into the net for the 3-2 game-winner.

"I had a good feeling that if we were able to maintain that pressure in the second half," Cherundolo noted, "we would come up with a winner."