LAFC equalizes against Philadelphia late
After Daniel Gazdag’s 86th-minute penalty and an altogether comfortable performance for the Union, Kellyn Acosta found the net (and a critical away goal) five minutes later to give Wednesday’s CCL semifinal a 1-1 scoreline. The series now heads to the second leg in LA on Tuesday with LAFC holding a slight advantage.
Leagues Cup 2023 Group Stage kickoff times announced
Group stage matches for Leagues Cup 2023 were announced Thursday, with the majority of games taking place between 7 pm ET and 11 pm ET to allow fans the opportunity to enjoy the highly-anticipated tournament under the lights. Check out all the details here.
St. Louis CITY name Gigliani as president and general manager
St. Louis CITY SC have added Diego Gigliani to their executive leadership team as the club’s new president and general manager. Gigliani, who arrives from City Football Group, is slated to join the club in the summer of 2023 once he acquires a work visa.
FC Cincinnati's Brenner completes club-record transfer to Udinese
FC Cincinnati have transferred star forward Brenner to Serie A side Udinese. The Brazilian attacker reportedly made the move for a $10 million fee, plus add-ons and a sell-on percentage, amounting to a Cincinnati-record transfer and standing among the top 10 most expensive outbound transfers in league history. Brenner will stay with Cincinnati until the beginning of July, when the European transfer window opens. His final MLS match will be on July 1, when the Orange & Blue face the New England Revolution at TQL Stadium.
Atlanta United bounced (and other US Open Cup results)
The 2023 US Open Cup continued Wednesday evening, with 12 MLS teams competing in the Third Round. Here’s how those dozen performed against lower-division opposition while chasing a spot in the Round of 32.
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Philadelphia and LAFC delivered again. And somehow, someway, LAFC ended the night with yet another incredibly slight but still very real advantage over Philadelphia. I’m noticing a trend.
Anyway, here are some quick thoughts from the first leg that was.
Alejandro Bedoya pointed it out in the lead-up to this one: LAFC hadn’t come to Philly in a long time. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised then that the Union, seemingly dead equal with LAFC in their Los Angeles meetings, outplayed LAFC.
You can go with eye test or stats here and come to the same conclusion. Philadelphia were unlucky to have not scored before Daniel Gazdag’s penalty and were unlucky not to come out of Subaru Park with the first actual win in this series in a long time. They were consistently threatening. In the “styles make fights” sense of things, Philly’s style came close to bludgeoning LAFC over the head time after time. But only close.
Full credit to LAFC, they were largely able to manage near-constant edge-of-your-seat balls over the top and into dangerous areas. Even still, one goal for Philly feels a bit harsh on the universe’s part. The final xG tally in this one ended up at 1.85 to 0.98 in favor of the Union and that doesn’t include an ultra-high xG chance from Julian Carranza that got called offside but absolutely would have been reviewed and counted if he hadn’t slammed the ball off the post from five yards away.
But none of that changes the outcome. And the outcome ended up being pretty excellent for LAFC all considered.
I doubt LAFC were necessarily happy with the overall performance. Even on the road, they expect more from themselves. But I don’t think they woke up today and said “Wow, Kellyn’s goal was totally against the run of play, what if we gave it back to the Union as a matter of principle?” They got a total steal here. And Acosta’s so good I’m not even sure how intentional that finish actually was, but it has them set up to put in a workman-like shift back home next week and get the job done.
Because away goals still matter in CCL. It’s not a massive cushion, but it is a cushion for LAFC. A win or a 0-0 draw gets them into the final. A 1-1 draw (which, to be honest, feels inevitable) sends it to penalties. More importantly, though, it keeps them from having to win by a couple of goals to survive. If this had finished 1-0 in favor of Philly, a 2-1 loss on Tuesday would have put the Union through. Now, it’s just a loss.
This game ruled for a ton of reasons, but the best and most obvious reason is the arc of the man responsible for both goals. Acosta nearly pulled off the “ball actually hit me in the head and not my arm, see, I’m rubbing my head, owie” gambit on the play that gave Philly the penalty, but came up just short. Five minutes later, he delivered an outstanding finish that totally redeemed himself and then some.
It’s now one of the micro-stories in the overall narrative of this growing rivalry that makes it so outstanding. These two teams have a gravity around each other that makes sure one team can’t be too far away from the other at any time. When the penalty Acosta surrendered gave Philly the lead, it seemed like the higher powers that be started hustling to make sure this one ended up tied. Again. The fact that Acosta got to provide both moments is just quality writing.
I know people get on the folks like me in Major League Soccer media about using the “rivalry” word a little too much. It’s fair. But, like, can we go ahead and just confirm that these two teams don’t like each other?
There were assorted shoving matches, hard fouls and a pretty intense-by-MLS-standards confrontation at one point after Carlos Vela got sent to the ground. Add in the stakes and recent history, and I’m thinking we can go ahead and at least consider officially designating this one as a coast-to-coast rivalry. Just consider it, ok?
I dunno, but it’s going to be awesome. The first leg delivered. The second leg takes place in the same setting that the wildest editions of this matchup were played. Something amazing is going to happen.
And then both teams will draw. The question is, how many goals will it take to get there?
LA Galaxy sign defender Cuevas from Club Brugge: The LA Galaxy have brought US youth international defender Mauricio Cuevas back to the club, announcing Wednesday they’ve signed the 20-year-old from Belgian side Club Brugge. Cuevas, 20, is under contract through the end of the 2025 MLS season with two club option years through 2027. He previously departed for Europe in January 2022 after coming through LA’s academy. The versatile fullback had tallied four goals and five assists in 21 games for LA Galaxy II, their reserve side that now competes in MLS NEXT Pro.
- Charles Boehm picked out the best and worst primary transfer windows in MLS this year.
- Jonathan Sigal passed out 2023 Primary Transfer Window grades for every MLS club.
- Charlotte FC’s Karol Swiderski won the AT&T 5G Goal of the Matchday.
- LAFC took a narrow CCL advantage over the Philadelphia Union last night.
Good luck out there. Repeat best practices.
