LAFC name provisional roster for Concacaf Champions League

Los Angeles Football Club have at least one game left in their season, Dec. 15 or 16 against Cruz Azul in Concacaf Champions League. If they win, they would play again, and if they win again, they would be in the 2020 CCL final.

Concacaf required teams to submit their preliminary rosters, up to 35 players, recently, and LAFC’s roster clocked out at 29 players.

Here’s the prelim roster:

Goalkeepers: Kenneth Vermeer, Pablo Sisniega, Phillip Ejimadu

Defenders: Jordan Harvey, Mohamed Traore, Eddie Segura, Dejan Jakovic, Diego Palacios, Mohamed El-Munir, Erik Dueñas, Andy Najar, Tristan Blackmon, Tony Leone, Mark Segbers, Jesus David Murillo

Midfielders: Francisco Ginella, Jose Cifuentes, Bryce Duke, Eduard Atuesta, Latif Blessing, Mark-Anthony Kaye

Forwards: Diego Rossi, Carlos Vela, Brian Rodriguez, Danny Musovski, Mahalo Opoku, Christian Torres, Adrien Perez, Bradley Wright-Phillips

One player is missing from this: Midfielder Alejandro Guido. Considering he’s never played a competitive minute with LAFC, I think this is likely Guido getting a jump in looking for his next club, as he’s clearly not in Bob Bradley’s plans.

Before LAFC reach Orlando for the tournament, they will be required to submit a final 25-man roster. The players who aren’t on that final roster but who are on the preliminary roster can be brought in if there’s a serious injury or a positive coronavirus test before the quarterfinal game, with the approval of Concacaf.

Within a player or two, if everyone is available I think we can name LAFC’s first-choice XI pretty easily, as well as the top choices for the bench. However, this has not been a typical year and who knows what will happen with injuries, coronavirus testing and one more matter.

Teams eliminated from the MLS Cup Playoffs are required to submit their offseason roster decisions to the league by Monday, but with LAFC still playing competitive games, I asked the club whether they would need to submit their offseason moves this week or can wait. I have yet to hear back, although it’s worth noting two teams in a similar position, Atlanta United and Montreal Impact, have already revealed their offseason decisions despite having at least one CCL game left to play this year. In those cases, players whose options were declined appear to have the choice to play in CCL or not. We’ll see if LAFC make an announcement or not, which could further complicate matters for CCL selection, potentially.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.