Carlos Vela injury to be evaluated as LAFC lament “terrible game”

Los Angeles Football Club lost their first game in regulation since February on Saturday, in a 2-0 El Trafico loss to the LA Galaxy, and around the club the consensus was...it was bad.

The Galaxy scored a goal in each half and LAFC managed only half the number of shots on target as their opponent, a bizarre anomaly for a normally free-scoring team. Meanwhile, LAFC’s trademark energy was not present.

“It was a terrible game for us, and so I told the team: It’s a day where I’m going to take responsibility because we didn’t look like ourselves, we never found any rhythm,” LAFC head coach Bob Bradley told reporters. “The game had no tempo, we weren’t dangerous and we just looked like we were second-best throughout the day.”

Defender Tristan Blackmon concisely broke down all the struggles on the day for LAFC.

“We just weren’t ourselves,” he said. “We didn’t win second balls, we weren’t dangerous in the attacking half. Our defending obviously could have been better, we gave away two goals. Our pressing wasn’t as good as it usually is. So we were just off today, to be honest. I think it was clear for everyone to see that. They handled the situation and got two goals out of the game and we couldn’t put one in the back of the net. That’s how the dice rolls sometimes. We got to get better, look at ourselves and move on to the next one.”

An additional concern on the day was that LAFC captain and reigning MLS MVP Carlos Vela went down with an injury and exited the game immediately midway through the second half. Bradley didn’t have a definitive update but hinted at a possible knee injury diagnosis for the superstar.

“We’ll need at least a day or two to fully assess, but just before that play he took a shot, the shot was blocked. That is usually an MCL-type situation, so that’s what we will look at in the next day or two,” Bradley said.

Next up, LAFC head to Utah to take on Real Salt Lake on Wednesday, and until that game gets underway one figures the rivalry loss will haunt the black-and-gold.

“In all ways we were just poor. That’s a difficult thing to say in a big game,” Bradley summarized.

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