LOS ANGELES – LAFC has now played six full 90-minute contests in the 2023 Concacaf Champions League. It has won four of those six by a final scoreline of 3-0.
The most recent of those came Tuesday night at BMO Stadium, as the Black and Gold trounced the Philadelphia Union 3-0 to advance to the Champions League final for the second time in the last four years.
“So far we’ve accomplished the goals that we set for ourselves,” Cherundolo said in a postgame press conference. “There’s one more to go. The atmosphere in the locker room right now is obviously a happy one, but also a focused one and a hungry one. This team wants to win the final.”
Left no doubt
This was expected against Alajuelense. This was expected against Vancouver. To put it bluntly, this LAFC team is really good – Jim Curtin went as far as to say “probably the best team” in MLS history.
Perhaps more importantly, the Union have routinely played this iteration of LAFC better than anyone else in MLS and all of Concacaf.
Last week’s 1-1 draw in the opening leg made it 300 minutes of live soccer in the last calendar year played to a stalemate between those two clubs at each final whistle. In each of the last two meetings – the 2022 MLS Cup title match and Wednesday's opening leg – it’s been the Union with the upper hand in the dying embers.
If it wasn’t for a stoppage time equalizer from Kellyn Acosta, LAFC would have entered the return leg trailing by one and without an all-important away goal. But Tuesday night was different. It did not look like the previous meetings. It did not look like what everyone expected.
“A little more professional,” Cherundolo said of his team’s performance. “It was better managed. We had more control of the game … and I think I can say job well done for the guys, and we were able to put the game on our terms.
This was a Union side that – by almost every unit of measure available – had played them dead even time and time again. It took just 13 minutes Tuesday, however, to prove that this night would be much different.
Tim Tillman pounced on a rebound to give the hosts more than just a tiebreaker-based advantage, one they held and built on – albeit eventually against a 10-man Philadelphia side – two more times on the night.
In the 83rd minute, Kwadwo Opoku slammed one into the top of the net from just outside the six-yard box to double the hosts' advantage. And just eight minutes later, as if there were any doubt he’d put his stamp on the proceedings, Denis Bouanga beat Andre Blake at the far post to put the final nail in the coffin — with his 18th goal contribution in all contributions this season.
“We wanted to be the aggressor tonight and play toward goal and to create chances,” Cherundolo said. “We did exactly that.”
That might even be an understatement from Cherundolo. LAFC outshot the Union 19-7, putting eight of those on frame to just two from Philadelphia. The hosts completed nearly 100 more passes in the opposing half and were significantly more accurate – nearly twice as much – on long balls and cross attempts.
A 34-match regular season provided no separation. Ninety minutes plus a half hour of extra time shed no further light.
But the Black and Gold left no doubt in this second leg. No doubt that they were unequivocally the best team in this matchup and no doubt that they’re undoubtedly the best team in the league. By every measure available, they dominated the Union for 90 minutes at BMO Stadium.
And for their efforts, come later this month, LAFC gets a chance to prove it’s the best team in all of North America.
It’s time to start a dialogue
Timothy Tillman.
The acclimation process has not been an arduous one. Getting up to speed has not been necessary. He’s stepped into MLS and instantly begun to prove himself one of the best midfielders in the league (and maybe the best USMNT-eligible midfielder in MLS, but that’s a conversation for another day).
When this team was without José Cifuentes due to sickness and the international break, it was Tillman who started in his stead. LAFC didn’t miss a beat in his minutes, perhaps even increasing the proverbial tempo with him on the field.
“I think we all know we need to work hard every day,” Tillman said of his new club. “That’s what we’re doing. We keep our confidence. We have a deep squad, a deep roster. We need everybody. That’s what we knew before the season."
Cifuentes was one of the most important players on the MLS Cup-winning squad last year. He had garnered genuine and deserved interest from big-name clubs in Europe with rumored price tags of not insignificant amounts.
Even this season, his role has been a crucial one in the early stages. He started in LAFC’s first-ever road win over the Galaxy, and he got the nod Wednesday night in the first leg in Philadelphia.
He scored from well outside the box in the second leg against Vancouver, and was heavily involved on both of LAFC’s late goals Tuesday night. He held off a physical challenge in transition before releasing to Carlos Vela, who set up Opoku for the second, and it was his throughball that assisted Bouanga on the third.
The 2023 season is still much closer to its beginning than its end, and this midfield will continue to rotate and take various forms, the majority of which will likely include Cifuentes. But Tillman has cemented himself as a piece in Cherundolo’s midfield worthy of equal consideration, and his performance Tuesday proved that group now goes four – not just three – deep.
He broke the deadlock after just 13 minutes, slamming home a rebound off a header from Illie Sánchez. And while Tillman’s undeniably lucky the ball fell to him, he found the rebound as much as it found him.
Even as the corner sailed in toward the center of the box away from Tillman at the far side, he didn’t get caught ball watching. He’s darting at the far post before the ball even finds the head of Sánchez, and he was rewarded for his efforts.
In addition to the goal – which came on his only attempt of the night – Tillman completed 80% of his passes out of the middle of the field. He won the majority of his duels on the ground and was fouled more than twice as much as he dished them out.
“I think it really sets the tone,” Cherundolo said of his opener. “As it so has to be against Philly it was a set piece… happy for Timmy [Tillman] to get back in the starting lineup and contribute again.”
The rematch (one way or another)
Regardless of the outcome of Wednesday night’s second leg between Tigres and León, there will be a rematch in some form or fashion from the 2020 Champions League.
Before COVID-19 brought the competition to a screeching halt – and reduced the competition to single-leg ties – LAFC and León squared off in the Round of 16 that season. After dropping the first leg 2-0 on the road, the Black and Gold stormed back with a 3-0 victory at home to advance on to the quarterfinals.
After dispatching Cruz Azul and Club América in the following rounds, LAFC had a chance at the Liga MX sweep in the final against Tigres. Not only had no MLS team ever lifted the CCL title, but LAFC was 90 minutes away from beating a Mexican side in all four rounds to do it.
Latif Blessing was tripped up in the box early in the proceedings, but the penalty shouts fell on deaf ears. A chip from Diego Rossi got LAFC on the board in the 61st minute, but a pair of Tigres goals over the next 23 minutes slammed the door on the Black and Gold’s hopes at history.
“We will watch close with attentive eyes tomorrow,” Cherundolo said. “Both are excellent teams. They play in different ways. They both can beat you also in different ways, so we’ll do our homework.”
The final in 2020 was played in Orlando, Fla. behind closed doors and in the waning days of December. This year’s edition will be the customary two legs on May 31 and June 5 respectively. Both Rossi and Blessing have since moved on, as have Mark-Anthony Kaye, Eddie Segura, Brian Rodrígiuez and Danny Musovski, to name a few.
So much has changed, yet so much still lingers for this LAFC side. For all its turnover since that night, its leading goal scorer in the 2020 CCL was Vela – already with three through five games in 2023.
Opoku played the entire second half of that final and scored the winner in the team's quarterfinal matchup with Cruz Azul. Diego Palacios won Young Player of the Tournament and his fellow countryman Cifuentes was a staple in that starting XI.
The final of this year’s edition will look unmistakably different from what we saw in December 2020, but the clubs will be the same.
And as for LAFC? That locker room is still well stocked with players who have waited three long years to right that wrong.