Rounding out an eventful evening slate of five matches on the 2024 edition’s opening night, LAFC did their best to keep Leagues Cup night owls awake and engaged on Friday.
Powered by the devastating incision of bookend wingers Denis Bouanga and Kike Olivera, the Black & Gold sliced Club Tijuana to ribbons at BMO Stadium to announce themselves as early title contenders with a 3-0 win over their near-neighbors from Baja California.
Olivera struck for the hosts’ first and third tallies, both assisted by Bouanga, and in between the Uruguayan returned the favor by providing the helper for his French colleague, the pacey duo feasting on the open spaces Xolos allowed them on wave after wave of counterattacks. Olivera now has 3g/1a in two matches since returning from Copa América, where he came off the bench in four of Uruguay’s six matches en route to a third-place finish under manager Marcelo Bielsa.
“We sent him to Copa América in great form, I think we can go back that far,” said LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo afterward. “He didn't play a whole lot in Copa América, and I don't know exactly what happened. I do know that his training sessions were very intense. But he left in good form and he's come back in good form, so maybe it's just his normal form.”
Black & Gold masterclass
It was somehow both a study in ruthless efficiency and a scoreline that could have been much, much worse. LAFC racked up 4.9 expected goals on just 34% of ball possession, while Xolos, who are off to a 2W-1L-1D in the new LIGA MX Apertura campaign, could muster just 0.9 xG from their 546 total passes completed at an accuracy rate of 92%.
“After scouting the opponent, you have an idea of how they'll play, but you don't really know until the team shows up and they confirm what you saw in previous matches. But we did see opportunities in transition, and to put our guys into those half-spaces, and there they are very difficult to mark,” noted Cherundolo.
“The way to deal with that, in my opinion, is to not give them open spaces, and you have to kind of suffocate them, and Tijuana wasn't able to do that, so advantage for those guys.”
Game-shifting moment?
The LIGA MX outfit had their own viewpoint on the match, and it centered on a flashpoint in the 12th minute, when LAFC’s Eddie Segura, a center back by trade handed a central-midfield assignment, made contact with Christian Rivera in an attempt to head a bouncing ball near the center circle.
Tijuana’s Colombian captain slumped to the turf immediately, possibly unconscious, and would be taken to a nearby hospital after receiving extensive medical attention on the pitch, replaced by veteran US international Joe Corona.
Salvadoran referee Iván Barton whistled Segura for a foul and awarded him a yellow card. But Xolos boss Juan Carlos Osorio – Mexico’s national team manager from 2015-18 and coach of the Chicago Fire and New York Red Bulls earlier in his career – took exception to the officiating crew’s handling of the situation and angrily accosted fourth official Vimarest Diaz, then her other colleagues, eventually earning an ejection after making contact with his forehead in a face-to-face confrontation.
“Christian Rivera, our captain, is at the hospital. They're keeping him for observation and we hope that he's doing well,” said assistant coach Cirilo Saucedo in Spanish in the postgame press conference; MLS Season Pass commentator Keith Costigan reported on the broadcast Rivera was conscious and had the use of his limbs.
“Regarding the match, well, you saw it. On the pitch we see a play that defined the match, when Christian was injured. In our opinion, there was a bad action,” added Saucedo. “I think that was the key, that play in the game ... We also controlled the game. They [LAFC] are good players, they have very good transitions, fast players … we created many opportunities to stay in the box, We couldn't finalize. But this is the reality of the game. We expected a much better result.”
Cherundolo was also asked about the incident.
“It's always sad to see a player lay on the ground unconscious, and we're happy that he's OK and he seems to be making a full recovery. But it's always scary, that moment,” he said. “It looks like a very unfortunate situation. I don't think there was any malintent by Eddie, it was just a bad angle; unfortunate, I guess. But that's sport, things happen, and we're just happy that the player’s OK.”
Both sides face the Vancouver Whitecaps next in West Group 7; LAFC host the 'Caps on Tuesday (10:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass) before Xolos visit BC Place on Aug. 3 (10 pm ET | Apple TV - Free).
