HARRISON, N.J. — LAFC manager Bob Bradley says he is focused on putting out his strongest side in every match at this stage of the season, irrespective of what lies ahead.
Traveling to the East Coast to face the New York Red Bulls in league play on Sunday ahead of their U.S. Open Cup semifinal against the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night (8:30 pm ET), Bradley opted to field his strongest available XI. The likes of Carlos Vela, Diego Rossi, Adama Diomande, Laurent Ciman and Walker Zimmerman all started, while fellow semifinalists the Chicago Fire and Philadelphia Union played heavily rotated lineups to play this weekend.
Unfortunately for the Black-and-Gold, Bradley’s bold team sheet didn’t translate to points, as Daniel Royer led the Red Bulls to a 2-1 win. Regardless, Bradley feels his team is ready for the Dynamo on Wednesday.
“Yeah, you think about rotation,” Bradley said after Sunday’s match. “But we're also at a point in the season where we feel like we're fit – I want to put a good team on the field today, and then size up everything and then put a good team on the field Wednesday.”
In LAFC’s first game without influential midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye, Bradley opted for an attack-minded central trio of Benny Feilhaber, Lee Nguyen and Vela. Against the Red Bulls, it didn’t quite work out to plan. RBNY’s Tyler Adams, Sean Davis and Kaku Gamarraoverran them, a key reason why LAFC failed to get a result.
Bradley dismissed the notion that he’d pick a midfield and stick with it for the rest of the season. With a deep roster, Bradley has other options, specifically Eduard Atuesta and Andre Horta.
“Well, Eduard has been very good for us this year,” Bradley said. “He didn't start today primarily because he was out for four weeks and he came on when Mark-Anthony Kaye was injured. So with the fast turnaround, Eduard was a guy that we had the feeling that it was going to be hard for him to put in two 90-minute efforts at this point.”
New arrival Horta will get his share of the minutes. But Bradley is giving him time to get acclimated to the league.
“We also are excited with what Andre Horta can bring, and like any player who comes into the league at this point in the year, there's a little bit of time to adapt,” Bradley said. “But we feel confident that he's going to make a difference.”
LAFC are one win away from playing in a cup final just six months after their first competitive match. They have a legitimate chance at silverware in their inaugural season, even without the vital Kaye, both in the Open Cup and the league.
“You want to look at the form of the team, and for the majority of matches, we’ve been playing really well,” Jordan Harvey said Sunday. “I think we go into this game with a lot of confidence.”
They may have to navigate the semifinal without leading scorer Diomande. The striker went down grabbing his hamstring on Sunday and disappeared straight down the tunnel after being substituted in the 69th minute. The club is yet to provide an official update.
With or without Diomande, LAFC believe they have the quality to advance to their first-ever cup final — heavy legs be damned.
“We played [in Houston] not too long ago and came away with a good result, played really well, and so we’ll try to build on that and try to get to a final,” Harvey said. “That’s a huge thing in an expansion team’s season, trying to get a trophy, so that’ll be big for us.”
