LAFC won its MLS playoff opener Saturday, which isn’t as impressive or definitive as it sounds.
In years past, the dominant 5-2 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps at BMO Stadium would have moved the team on to the next round. This year, it’s little more than a step forward on that path.
That’s because MLS changed its playoff format again this fall, making the first round a best-of-three series rather than a single match. So rather than advancing to the second round, LAFC is only advancing to the second game.
It can close out the series with a win Nov. 5 in Vancouver. If a third game is needed, it will be played Nov. 9 at BMO Stadium.
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“I would love to end the series in Vancouver and that’ll be our objective. We want to play the exact same way we play here,” LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo said.
However under the new playoff format, one in which total goals and goal differential don’t count, little of the dominance LAFC showed in the victory will carry over to the next game.
“You’ve got to turn the page,” LAFC goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau said. “Winning 8-0, 10-0, 12-0, you still go there 0-0. You have to take the positives, you have to take that momentum with you. But at the end of the day, the page has to be turned and focus on a brand new field, brand new game next weekend.”
If Saturday’s seesaw opener lacked finality, it didn’t lack excitement, with Vancouver twice erasing one-goal deficits in a wide-open first half before LAFC put the game away with three unanswered scores in the second half. Ryan Hollingshead and Dénis Bouanga had two goals each and Jesús Murillo scored once for LAFC. Brian White and Sam Adekugbe scored for Vancouver.
Hollingshead put LAFC in front in the 18th minute but had to work for the goal, first nodding a Carlos Vela corner kick on target from the far post, only to have Vancouver keeper Yohei Takaoka make a diving, one-handed save. Takaoka pushed the rebound right to Hollingshead, however, and this time the LAFC defender didn’t miss, putting a low, left-footed shot across the goalmouth and just over the line.
That was a good omen for LAFC, which has lost just once in 24 games in all competition when scoring first….