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Where: Banc of California Stadium, Los Angeles, Calif.
When: Saturday, May 5th, 12:55pm PT
How to watch: Univision, Twitter
Last Sunday was a great occasion, Banc of California debuted to the world, and it did not disappoint. It looks great on TV, and all the reports are that are the in-stadium experience was even better.
Now, The 3252 and the rest of the LAFC fans will try to turn Banc of California stadium into a fortress.
The mission was off to a good start on Sunday, with a last-minute, somewhat fortunate winner scored by Laurent Ciman on a free kick.
The game itself was not great, and it was one of the few times LAFC’s dangerous offense was held in check, Atlanta United and the opening game against Seattle being the other games like that.
LAFC picked up some reinforcements in that regard this week at the transfer deadline, acquiring Lee Nguyen from the New England Revolution and signing Norwegian striker Adama Diomandé, who has worked with Bob Bradley.
These acquisitions look to add skill and depth to a team with a lot of the former, and not as much of the latter.
Neither, however will probably make much impact for this game on Saturday. Nguyen is already training with the team, and while he may get to see the field, it seems unlikely he would start straightaway having not played a game yet this season. Diomandé, meanwhile, is not yet in Los Angeles and will not be in time for this game.
In a week of almost all good news, one of the few disappointing pieces was that Marco Ureña had to have facial surgery after breaking a bone in his face. Ureña has been really good so far for LAFC despite not scoring a goal as of yet. His work rate, creative play and energy will be missed, especially against an FC Dallas team that has not allowed a lot of goals.
FC Dallas was undefeated until last week, when they lost to New York City FC on the road. Dallas has been stingy at the back, and only has the one loss, despite not being all that impressive performance-wise so far, admittedly.
This will also be Walker Zimmerman’s first game against his old team, having been traded by FC Dallas to LAFC in the offseason. I’m sure he will be eager to perform well against his former team.
Prediction: LAFC 1, FC Dallas 1. Carlos Vela scores again for the Black-and-Gold, but they share the points with FC Dallas on this occasion.
What do you think? Leave a comment below!