Despite repeated missteps and setbacks in 2021, the Los Angeles Football Club is clinging to control of its own destiny with a quarter of the regular season left to play.
Split evenly between home and road contests, seven of LAFC’s final eight opponents currently rank above them in the Major League Soccer Western Conference table or are tied with the Black & Gold at 33 points.
“It means that there’s still a lot to play for,” LAFC head coach Bob Bradley said Tuesday. “We understand that. We know that we’ve been talking about for a few weeks that all games are playoff-type games with a lot on the line. Six-point-type games. Certainly there’s a strong understanding of what every game will be about.”
This was true 10 days ago, when LAFC rode a three-match winning streak into Providence Park but failed to grab a point, losing 2-1 to the Portland Timbers for the second time this year. Bradley’s side followed up by getting blanked 2-0 in San Jose on Saturday, which again pushed them below the playoff line.
“We have to go in with everything now,” LAFC defender Marco Farfan said. “There’s no room for error. We dug ourselves in a deep hole.”
Visiting Los Angeles on Wednesday for their only regular-season appearance at Banc of California Stadium, Portland has gone unbeaten in its past six, including five victories during that stretch following a 6-1 romp over Real Salt Lake over the weekend that vaulted the Timbers into the top four in the west.
“I think they got healthy, and then you can see with more of their core guys on the field playing well there’s confidence, there’s understanding,” Bradley said.
Besieged by injuries all season as well, LAFC has not found a way to turn the corner like Portland did.
Eduard Atuesta missed his second consecutive match in San Jose with a right ankle injury. The Colombian midfielder remains questionable for Wednesday’s critical showdown.
So does Brian Rodriguez, who was unavailable for selection in San Jose because of a left hamstring issue that left LAFC (9-11-6) without a designated player on the pitch following the departure of Diego Rossi and Carlos Vela’s sporadic appearances in the lineup due to a lingering quadriceps injury.
Prior to a demoralizing 2-1 defeat to the Timbers in July, when a headed goal in stoppage time killed the Black & Gold’s only other three-game winning streak of the season, LAFC played seven consecutive matches against Portland without a loss.
Under Venezuelan head coach Giovanni Savarese, Portland (12-10-4, 40 points) has been consistent with its approach by utilizing a mid to low defensive block that chokes off the middle of the field, forces opponents to attack from the wings and sets up offensively with counter attacks or crosses into the box.
“They’re going to be coming into the game with a lot of confidence,” said Farfan, whom Portland traded to LAFC in the offseason for $300,000 in general allocation money. “That’s where we need to come together as a team, more now than ever, and try to get the results and try to get the win against Portland.
“It’s their turn to come to our house, and we just have to get the result.”
LAFC (9-11-6, 33 pts) vs. PORTLAND (12-10-4, 40 pts)
Kickoff: Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Banc of California Stadium
TV: Bally Sports SoCal; Estrella TV (Spanish)
Radio: 710 AM, ESPN app, 980 AM (Spanish)