Eduard Atuesta is the only player on the current LAFC roster who was there for the franchise’s first game in 2018. But he hasn’t been with the team the whole time, and he need look no further than the shirt on his back to be reminded of what he missed.
There, above the crest on the left breast of the team’s warm-ups, is the bright white star LAFC earned by winning the MLS Cup 11 months after Atuesta left for Brazil. LAFC played in a second MLS Cup final last fall, two months before he came back.
So while Atuesta was there for the start, he wasn’t around for the team’s greatest triumphs. And that has given him something to play for in his return.
“I hope now we can win things that we have not yet won,” he said in Spanish over a cappuccino in the lobby of the team’s preseason hotel. “That is my goal, to continue winning titles, to continue writing history, as I did from the beginning.”
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A lot has changed since that beginning. Bob Bradley is gone, replaced as manager by Steve Cherundolo. Cristian Arango, the team’s leading scorer in Atuesta’s final season, is gone too; the offense now runs through Denis Bouanga, the league’s leading scorer last season. And Carlos Vela, LAFC’s long-time captain, remains unsigned and out of uniform.
In fact, just three players on LAFC’s current roster were there when Atuesta left after the 2021 season. Even the stadium name is different; it’s BMO Stadium now, not Banc of California.
For Atuesta, however, everything feels the same.
“It’s like coming home,” he said. “I was here from Day 1.”
But then he left. An MLS All-Star and Best XI pick, Atuesta drew offers from all over Europe and Latin America before eventually winding up in Brazil with Palmeiras. Atuesta’s contribution there, however, was limited: Although the Colombian made 60 appearances in all competition, starting 18 times, a torn ACL in his right knee early last year limited him to just five minutes in Serie A play.
Still, he considers his 25 months in Brazil to have been time well spent. Not only did Palmeiras lift six trophies — no Colombian has won more with the club, he said — but Atuesta also grew as a player.
“I’m more mature, physically also much stronger,” he said. “When you get injured there are few positive things. One of those is…