LAFC draw FC Dallas 2-2 in preseason action

Los Angeles Football Club played their third preseason game of 2020 on Thursday, hosting FC Dallas as the teams played to a 2-2 draw at an empty Banc of California Stadium.

LAFC began the match with a lineup pretty similar to the one that played in last Friday’s preseason friendly win over New York City FC, a mix of presumed starters and reserves:

GK - Pablo Sisniega; Tristan Blackmon, Dejan Jaković, Jordan Harvey, Diego Palacios; Latif Blessing, Alejandro Guido, Bryce Duke; Brian Rodríguez, Adrien Perez, Carlos Vela

FC Dallas, meanwhile, played with nearly a first-choice starting XI, only young star Paxton Pomykal not in the lineup.

The teams played in three 30-minute stretches, and the game’s first goal came in the 30th minute, with Brian Rodriguez scoring in his second straight preseason game to give LAFC a 1-0 lead.

But Jesus Ferreira tied up the game for FC Dallas on a cushioned volley in the 45th minute to make it 1-1.

LAFC took the lead again, through an apparent FCD own goal, but the visitors clawed back once again, with big forward prospect Ricardo Pepi hitting a strike off a long throughball.

It’s worth noting that the centerbacks on this play appeared to be Jordan Harvey (never plays here in competitive games), Tristan Blackmon (plays there part-time) and Phillip Ejimadu appeared to be in goal (3rd string GK). A lot is likely to have to happen for these players to be in this scenario together in a competitive game this year.

Other notes:

• There was an apparent trialist, with Benjamin of Heart of LAFC reporting he was from Ghana, name as-yet unknown.

• Subs for LAFC included Ejimadu, Jack Hallahan and several LAFC academy players — Christian Torres was name-checked in the postgame periscope by Vince La Rosa and Max Bretos.
• Diego Palacios appeared to suffer a crunching tackle, subbing out early in the game

So three preseason games down for LAFC, one to go. They will play Toronto FC next Wednesday afternoon at The Banc, in a game open to the public (tickets required). That game will likely give us the best look to date of the first-choice players before Concacaf Champions League, considering there’s at least five presumed starters who have not yet featured for LAFC yet this preseason. Hopefully the top lineup gets some run in that one.

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