When Giorgio Chiellini joined the Los Angeles Football Club in July, the Italian defender knew enough about Major League Soccer to share his thoughts about the challenging cluster of road matches that awaited him and his new team.
Playing for almost 20 years in Italy, where Chiellini starred with Juventus, equivalent travel would have placed him in Russia. More than once. Over a relatively short span of matches.
The road stretch came and went, and, unsurprisingly, coincided with LAFC slipping in form and losing control of the Supporters’ Shield race before regaining a foothold in its last match, a 3-1 home win over Houston.
The MLS season reaches October with two regular season games to go, and Chiellini is now all too familiar with the practical difference between playing at locations around the U.S. or LAFC’s home, Banc of California Stadium.
On Sunday afternoon in Portland, LAFC faces its final road game of the 34-match regular season. And pending the outcome of the Supporters’ Shield race, it could mark the last road match of the year for the Black & Gold, which has secured home-field advantage through at least the Western Conference playoffs.
When the Philadelphia Union lost in Charlotte on Saturday the result guaranteed that LAFC would clinch the Shield — and home field through the MLS Cup final — with a win on national television Sunday, or against Nashville on Decision Day at the Banc. As long at LAFC remains tied on points with the Union, they will hoist the Shield for the first time since 2019.
“Everybody has a smartphone nowadays and can follow scores,” LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo said. “We are in the 33rd game of the season and the table is an important part of it. It is a part of it. We are not just going to ignore it. But none of it means anything if you don’t get the job done in Portland and that’s where our focus is.
“What I would like to see is our players mentally and physically first of all accepting the challenge and showing up. And then in the key moments using our football to decide the game for us. Certainly you have to go into a place like Portland ready to fight first.”
The last time defender Eddie Segura traveled to Providence Park was July of last year. He departed the Timbers’ dark green fortress with a torn anterior cruciate ligament following a non-contact play on the artificial turf field, leading to season-ending surgery.
The 25-year-old central defender missed two early season matchups against the Timbers — a draw in league play and a victory in the U.S. Open Cup — before returning from the injury in June. He has since contributed alongside an assortment of defenders, including Chiellini, whom the Colombian paired with in LAFC’s match versus Houston prior to the just concluded FIFA international break.
“Portland is a difficult opponent, especially at home,” Segura said. “We’re confident in our work and progress. We’re conscious that they’re very strong defensively and look for counter attacks, also strong in the air, but we’ll give it our all to impose ourselves on the game along with the work we’ve been building all season we’re going to look for our result.”
The Timbers enter the weekend hovering above the playoff line, sixth in the Western Conference, following four wins and a draw in their last five contests.
Cherundolo noted that Portland’s slightly altered tactics and reorganization in the way it uses space over the last nine weeks has helped the hosts round into form.
“I think they’ve done an excellent job of creating a way of play that is stable and supports the characteristics and attributes of players they have and they keep adding to that,” said Cherundolo, who with one more win can claim the record for most regular-season victories by a head coach in their first MLS season (21). “They’ve had consistency as well, with their coach and their players. And so it’s one of the hardest teams in the league to beat, especially at home.”
LAFC AT PORTLAND
When: Sunday, noon PT
Where: Providence Park
TV/Radio: ABC (Ch. 7), ESPN Deportes/710 AM, 980 AM
"difficult" - Google News
October 02, 2022 at 07:55AM
https://ift.tt/exY1oLz
LAFC prepares for ‘difficult opponent’ in Portland - LA Daily News
"difficult" - Google News
https://ift.tt/wy0rFcZ
https://ift.tt/QUDZYeP
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "LAFC prepares for ‘difficult opponent’ in Portland - LA Daily News"
Post a Comment