PER LAFC PRESS RELEASE
The Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) defeated Sporting Kansas City 5-1 on Wednesday night at Children’s Mercy Park. Goals from Christian Ramirez, Diego Rossi, Carlos Vela, Rodolfo Zelaya and Mohamed El-Munir gave the Black & Gold its league-high fifth win away from home and 12th overall in MLS play.
LAFC took the lead just before the half hour mark as Ramirez scored his fourth tally of the season via a free kick that snuck underneath the SKC wall. After the interval, the Black & Gold would open up the floodgates, starting with a counterattack that ended with a screamer from Diego Rossi at the far post in the 50th minute.
Vela notched his league-best 17th of the season in the 63rd minute, and after SKC got one back in the 85th minute, the Mexican forward would set up Zelaya’s first goal for LAFC four minutes later. In stoppage time, El-Munir added the fifth of the night, also his first for the Black & Gold, to hand Sporting its third defeat at home.
LAFC is back at Banc of California Stadium this Saturday, July 6 when the Club hosts Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. PT and the match will be broadcast on YouTube TV, Univision KVMD, ESPN 710 AM, KFWB 980 AM. The Black & Gold remain in first place in the Supporters’ Shield standings with a 12-2-4 record (40 points).
POST GAME QUOTES
Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
Thoughts on the match…
We had good chances in the game. We didn’t put our chances away and I think at the end of the day they did. They put their chances away and we didn’t. They were good but we also played well tonight. The difference in the game was scoring goals.
On his takeaways…
We played well. There was good things that we did in the game. At the end of the day, we have to score. That’s the simple part of it.
Sporting Kansas City defender Matt Besler
On his reaction to the defeat…
I don’t know what to say other than just that I feel bad for the fans. They come out here and the atmosphere was great. We were in the game in the first half. I thought we played extremely well. The game, right now, comes down to small little details and right now things aren’t going our way. We’re just not making the right plays. We have a couple chances in the first half and we don’t put them away. And then we give up a bad free kick goal and the game just turns. Again, we come out in the second half and we have a lot of work to do. It’s an uphill battle. Right now, it’s just too much for us to come back from. It’s disappointing and I can tell you that there’s nobody that’s more frustrated than us right now. We have to live it every single day. We’re going into the practice facility and trying to correct things. I don’t know what to say other than we’re trying to get back and we thank everybody for their support right now.
Sporting Kansas City defender Seth Sinovic
Thoughts on the match…
It’s clearly not good enough. Losing 5-1 at home is never acceptable. Our fans were incredible tonight in pushing us. They deserve better than the results we’ve been getting. All we can ask is keep coming out and keep supporting us. I still have confidence we’re going to turn this thing around.
On the opportunity to bounce back on Saturday against Chicago…
I hope so. That’s the way we’ve got to approach it. We’ve got to get our rest, get our legs back and get ready for Saturday. We’ve gots to start putting wins on the board because we keep digging ourselves a bigger and bigger hole. At some point, we’ve got to start turning this around and getting points.
Los Angeles FC head coach Bob Bradley
Thoughts on the match…
It’s an important win for us. We weren’t satisfied with the result in Colorado. We’ve been on the road now for some days so just to get the three points, that part was great. I think the mentality of the group was really good. It was important to get Eduard (Atuesta) on the field and Mark-Anthony (Kaye) comes back from (playing with) Canada, so all those kind of things were positive.
On the team’s depth providing goals…
Throughout the month of June, we felt like a lot of guys were making progress. We know that in this next stretch, everybody is going to be counted on. It was also (Rodolfo Zelaya’s) birthday, so for him to score his first goal for us on his birthday was pretty special. (Zak Abdel) was calling (Mohamed El-Munir) Mohamed Salah. That was a good goal.
On the return of Mark-Anthony Kaye from international duty…
I think anytime somebody goes away with their national team, it takes a little while to get him back into the rhythm of our team. I think Mark-Anthony is such an important player. Tonight wasn’t his sharpest, but it probably wasn’t anybody’s sharpest. It’s really good to have him back.
On the team’s goal scoring abilities…
We have, as a team, good attacking ideas. We have got some really special players. The combination of our ideas and our timing with the way that some of those guys can take the ball on the move and finish, those are things that go a long way.
On the team’s veteran leadership…
Every day there are little things that are important in the way we play and the way we get along. You need guys to also be showing voices. It can’t always come from the coaching staff. I think, on a regular basis, those guys are finding the right balance between encouraging their teammates and in other moments being hard on them, but it’s been very important.
On the team’s upcoming schedule…
We have a ridiculous stretch so we’re going to have to continue to find the right group every time. We’re going to have to certainly count on everybody throughout these next games. But we’ve tried to prepare for that so hopefully we can manage.
Los Angeles FC defender Steven Beitashour
Thoughts on the match…
It was a tough game. Any team with Peter Vermes there is organized and disciplined and they work hard. I think the first 20-30 minutes were difficult for us in the first half. They had a lot of the possession. I think getting past that wave from them really helped us throughout the game. Then obviously we got the goal. Christian (Ramirez) with a great free kick. We were able to breathe a little bit after that and we get to halftime. Bob reiterates what he wants us to do, continue to play our football. I don’t think we were sharp technically and the movement wasn’t necessarily what we were used to. The fortunate thing is, we go into the second half and we continue to be strong defensively and work together. We get our chances and we put them away tonight.
On responding from the loss in Colorado…
I think the tempo was a lot better. I think it was a good reaction from the loss in Colorado. It was too slow. There wasn’t no movement in that game. The tempo wasn’t great. It was too slow. This was a good response from a loss and I think the guys are extremely happy with the result. We can still improve with our play and our football but this is a step in the right direction.
On the play of Pablo Sisniega in net…
Pablo was huge tonight. It was reminiscent of the San Jose match where he made some big time saves in timely manners. Sometimes you’re going to defend well but they’re going to break through and that’s why you rely on a big keeper like that. More importantly, he tried to play when we had the ball. I think that’s important with the style that we like to play. We like to possess and we like to get good rotation in the midfield and sometimes we go back to Pablo. HE was comfortable. All around, between saves and playing, that he did a great job.
On the team’s upcoming schedule….
It’s tough. We have Colorado and then Kansas City and then we go home and we’ve got Vancouver in a couple days and then right after that we have Open Cup and then we have Houston two days later. It’s a busy stretch. We don’t like to look ahead of what’s next but because of this busy stretch, I think the medical staff here has done a great job of preparing us. We have to make sure we are on top of our nutrition, of our sleep. Everyone is talking about getting extra protein and extra rest and all this stuff. This is what they get paid the big bucks for. They’re on top of us and we just have to make sure that we do everything to prepare for the next match.
Los Angeles FC forward Rodolfo Zelaya
Thoughts on the match…
I am very happy to continue to gain minutes and play. This was a perfect happy birthday gift that I received from Carlos Vela. He gave me the assist so that I could score. I’m thankful to God that we won. I’m focusing on continuing to get better and better so that they can keep me in mind for the lineup.
On scoring a goal on his birthday…
This was my first goal and I couldn’t have dreamed of a better way to celebrate my birthday other than to score a goal.
