“We Are L.A. Strong!”
(East Los Angeles, CA) [From The Editor’s Desk]: The first LAFC weekend Saturday night match of the young season took place on 3/1 vs. the New York City FC, an MLS team that the Black & Gold have yet to defeat. They are (0-1-2) in all matches played to date versus their East Coast counterparts.
[LAFC STARTING XI]: GK/#1 Hugo Lloris, (FRA); DF/#91 Nikosi Tafari, (USA); DF/#4/Eddie Segura, (COL); MF/#5/Marlon, (BRA); MF/#6/Igor Jesus, (BRA); MF/#20/Yew Yeboah (Ghana); MF/#11/Timothy Tillman, (USA); DF/#14/Sergi Palencia, (ESP); DF/#27/Nathan Ordaz, (USA); FW/#17/Jeremy Ebobisse (USA); and FW/#99/Denis Bouanga (FRA)
[MATCH SUMMARY]
[REFEREE]: Chris Penso
[1st HALF]: In the usual pattern of an opening half of MLS play, through the first (15:00) minutes, both squads were on the go with energy right from the kick-off. LAFC managed to get its crowd excited with several attacking strategies, but came up short each time when the New York City defense sagged back far enough to thwart the Black & Gold’s first score of the match.
For the next 30 minutes, it was a see-saw battle, with LAFC taking more shots on goal and a few more corner kicks. NYCFC kept pace but was underwhelming with its spread offense attack. Thus, the first half of this MLS soccer/fútbol match was played very clean, competitive, but not highly exciting offensively, and ended with a scoreless result.
[HALF-TIME SCORE]: LAFC 0 New York City FC 0
[aigpl-gallery-slider id=”135233″][PHOTO GALLERY]: Franklin Robles, Lead Photographer, for East L.A. Sports Scene Productions
[2nd HALF]: The tempo increased considerably in the first (10:00) minutes of this stanza. But then, in keeping with his defensive and winning-soccer matches philosophy, LAFC Manager/Head Coach, Steve Cherundolo, at the (60:00) minute mark, made his first subs by sending in the highly promising and local youngster, #30/David Martínez, along with #24/Ryan Hollingshead, and #8/Mark Delgado. Coming out were starters: Nathan Ordaz, Igor Jesus, and Nikosi Tafari.
At the 69th minute, LAFC nicely generated an attack, but the New Yorkers withstood the forces unleashed upon them by the Black & Gold frontline. NYC then quickly regrouped and marched towards #1/Hugo Lloris, LAFC’s outstanding goalkeeper. They got close to him with a shot, but Lloris saved it and cleared it promptly away from further danger.
On LAFC’s next possession, Martínez took a shot, but it missed narrowly by gliding away to the right of the netting. In his next chess-like move, Cherundolo asked #17/Ebobisse to come out, and #9/Giroud went in at the 76th minute. Making his LAFC playing debut was Defender #29/Artem Smilyakov, who is from the Ukraine.
Then, as time was running down, on a crosser from left-to-right that started with #99, but it was deflected in midair and then onto the right flank. And that’s precisely where #24/Ryan Hollingshead was waiting for it. He aimed and blasted the sphere from about 25 yards into the far corner of the netting for the first and subsequently winning goal of the match.
[FULL-TIME SCORE]: LAFC 1 New York City FC 0 [ATTENDANCE]: 22,000
[MAN OF THE MATCH]: #24/Ryan Hollingshead
[OF SIGNIFICANCE]: Long periods of great defense sprinkled with stellar goalkeeping play by Lloris. The offense ignited when it was the right time and secured the victory by freezing the opponents from mounting any consistent and severe attack, hoping for the equalizer, but it never materialized, and the Black & Gold were victorious for their second MLS win in a row to start the season.
