After being routed by the Houston Dynamo last Saturday, Los Angeles FC are looking for quick redemption when they host Wednesday’s rematch.
Houston’s 4-0 result on Saturday was both the Dynamo’s highest-scoring game of the MLS season and the largest margin of defeat for LAFC (7-2-5, 26 points) since their inaugural 2018 campaign.
Midfielder Ilie Sanchez felt Los Angeles FC were “not thinking as a team” on Saturday, resulting in the “very bad performance.”
“We are thinking about individuals on the field, and that’s where the disconnection is coming from,” Sanchez said. “… When LAFC doesn’t win or doesn’t perform as we expect, 99 percent of the time it’s going to be because of us and the way that we perform on the field.”
Amine Bassi scored on a penalty kick in the 50th minute for his team-leading seventh goal. Houston (6-7-3, 21 points) also had some new faces on the scoresheet, as Nelson Quinones scored his first MLS goal and Franco Escobar, formerly of LAFC, collected his first tally since signing with the Dynamo in the offseason.
The Dynamo are 6-1-1 at home this season but are still winless (0-6-2) in eight away games.
“At some point we need to turn the corner on the road,” Dynamo assistant coach Brendan Burke said. “We need to just find a way to get results and we might have to do it in a different way. We’ve been a little too open on the road, a little too willing to go forward on the road, and we might have to be a little more conservative to just grind stuff out.”
Escobar (caution accumulation) and Adalberto Carrasquilla (international duty) aren’t available for Houston’s lineup on Wednesday. Chase Gasper is questionable after making an early exit last game due to a hip injury.
Los Angeles FC have an undefeated 5-0-2 home record, though the team is in its first downturn in form of the season. LAFC are 0-1-1 without any goals scored in their last two games, marking only the second two-game regular-season scoreless drought in franchise history.
–Field Level Media
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