LAFC hopes to see Carlos Vela, Laurent Ciman off with a win
Carlos Vela and Laurent Ciman have been on the field for every minute of the Los Angeles Football Club’s first 11 games this season. But Saturday, when LAFC hosts D.C. United at Banc of California Stadium, both will play their final minutes in black and gold for quite some time.
After the game Vela, a forward, will leave to join the Mexican national team in Beverly Hills and Ciman, a defender, will fly off to join the Belgian team as both countries begin preparations for next month’s World Cup. LAFC has already lost forward Marco Urena (Costa Rica) and defender Omar Gaber (Egypt) to World Cup duty while defender Walker Zimmerman is away with the U.S. national team.
Yet LAFC coach Bob Bradley is embracing the loss of five starters because their absences will create opportunities for others.
“You need always to try to build the squad from top to bottom, where everybody knows that they’re going to be counted on,” Bradley said this week. “That’s part of creating a good culture and creating team spirit. So we’re at that point.”
Exactly who will step up where, Bradley wouldn’t say. But he got a good look at this roster Tuesday, when he auditioned 20 players in an exhibition draw with Germany’s Borussia Dortmund.
“What you do is you have a team that you put together, that you build, with the idea that as you train every day, guys get better,” Bradley said. “You don’t know for sure as certain guys leave which players will have improved the most, which guys are really ready to step in.
“In the next stretch different guys will certainly be getting opportunities.”
Among those who figure to get the longest looks are defenders Joao Moutinho, Jordan Harvey and Dejan Jakovic; forward Adama Diomande; and midfielder Aaron Kovar, who gave a good accounting of himself in the Dortmund game.
Vela, who leads the team with seven goals and is second with five assists, and Ciman, the team’s captain, would certainly like to leave on a positive note after seeing LAFC’s six-game unbeaten run end in a 1-0 loss in Portland last weekend.
LAFC, second in the Western Conference entering the weekend, is unbeaten at home and, at 6-3-2, is off to the best 11-game start by an expansion team in MLS history.
D.C. United (2-5-2), meanwhile, is last in the Eastern Conference, which is where it finished last season. And though it won two of its last four, rebounding from a five-game winless streak to start the season, the best news the team has gotten lately is the impending signing of Everton star Wayne Rooney.
INTERNATIONAL SOCCER
The last club game of the European season will be played Saturday and, fittingly, it’s also the biggest game of the year with Real Madrid facing Liverpool in Kiev in the Champions League final (Fox, ESPN Deportes, 11:45 a.m. PDT).
Playing in the continental championship game, the most prestigious club match in the sport, has become old hat for Real Madrid.
This will be its unprecedented third straight final and its fourth in five years. The Spanish club has won the previous three by a combined score of 9-3. Liverpool, winner of an English-record five titles, hasn’t played in this game since 2007 and hasn’t won since 2005.
The matchup will feature two of the world’s top scorers in Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (46 goals in 54 games in all competition) and Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo (45 goals, 44 games).
Follow Kevin Baxter on Twitter @kbaxter11
