Los Angeles Football Club and Red Bull New York will both seek their first league wins in more than a month when they meet Wednesday night in Southern California.
For LAFC manager Marc Dos Santos, the midweek tilt could represent a first chance to lean on some of the midseason additions made by club president and general manager John Thorrington.
In total, Thorrington added five players in the secondary transfer window, with four of those deals getting across the line after Aug. 25.
Dos Santos indicated part of the thinking is to lessen the physical toll on stars Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-min, who have combined for 17 goals and 19 assists this season, but are both north of 30 years old.
“It’s a needed situation,” he explained. “There’s no doubt that there’s changes in our roster right now that makes it challenging, but I think the core that is here is really good, and the additions are important because they’re also young. We have an older team and it’s not a secret, and we need some dynamic type of players, some new blood, I would say.”
There is definitely a sense of stalled progress for LAFC (10-7-7, 37 points), who enter Wednesday’s match in third in the Western Conference but winless — with four draws — in their last six league matches. Their last victory came on July 25.
Meanwhile, the Red Bulls (7-10-6, 27 points) fell beneath the playoff line into 10th in the Eastern Conference — behind Philadelphia on goal difference — after a 0-0 draw at the Seattle Sounders on Saturday night.
By itself, that was a positive result in one of MLS’ most difficult away environments historically. But it was also the first of four on the road for manager Michael Bradley’s group, which has gone winless in five since a 3-2 home win against Orlando on Aug. 1.
With central midfielder Ronald Donkor serving a card-accumulation suspension on Wednesday, Bradley could also turn to two of his club’s very late loan acquisitions for their first starts.
David Ruiz’s move from Miami was completed on Wednesday, and Devin Padelford’s switch from Minnesota was finalized on Thursday. Both came off the bench in Saturday’s draw.
“David and Devin both did a really good job when they came on the field,” Bradley said. “David had had three training sessions, Devin had had one, but they, in a short amount of time, have both done a really good job of integrating themselves into the team.”
–Field Level Media
