After a week of highs and lows, Los Angeles FC are set for another midweek match when they play host to the Colorado Rapids on Wednesday.
LAFC (5-2-1, 16 points) advanced to the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinals last Tuesday but will enter off a 4-1 home loss to the upstart San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday. LAFC were steamrolled by a barrage of second-half goals in the defeat.
“I have been here many times praising us but (Sunday) was not good,” LAFC head coach Marc Dos Santos said. “We have to take the game as a lesson and move forward. If I only talk about tiredness (from Champions Cup), that’s an excuse. It was not good. We have to see why and try to improve on Wednesday.”
Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris not only gave up his first goals of the season to end a 593-minute scoreless streak, Heung-Min Son remains without a goal through his first seven league games. Son does have two goals in Champions Cup play.
Denis Bouanga leads the club with four goals and has four assists in MLS play, while Son has seven assists.
The Rapids (4-4-0, 12 points) had their inconsistencies on full display in a 3-2 home loss to Lionel Messi-led Inter Miami on Saturday. Colorado forced the action but Messi scored twice, including the game-winner in the 79th minute.
“I saw a team that performed like a big team with a proper mentality with a huge personality,” Rapids head coach Matt Wells said, while looking at the positives after his team had 15 shots to five for Miami. “… That gives me massive hope that if we keep building and stick on this path, it won’t be long before you’re asking me a question about us being the top team around Vancouver and LAFC.”
Dynamic on offense this season, Colorado’s 21 goals are second most in league play, one behind the Western Conference-leading Vancouver Whitecaps.
Rafael Navarro leads the Rapids with six goals and four assists, including a goal on Saturday.
Colorado’s loss to Inter Miami came in front of a crowd of 75,824 at the home of the NFL’s Denver Broncos, the second-largest to watch a match in MLS history. It came one week after a resounding 6-2 home victory over the Houston Dynamo when Navarro scored twice.
But while the offense has been solid, the Rapids have allowed 15 goals, with only three Western Conference teams allowing more.
–Field Level Media
