Los Angeles Football Club, Major League Soccer’s 23rd and newest expansion team, will play its first ever regular season match on Sunday at the unfriendly confines of Seattle Sounders FC’s CenturyLink Field (5 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN Deportes). LAFC enters the league with tremendous expectations, thanks to a star-studded and robust ownership group (including Peter Guber, Magic Johnson and Will Ferrell), a decorated head coach in Bob Bradley, and dynamic and young world class talents like Mexico’s Carlos Vela and 19-year-old Uruguayan Diego Rossi.
The expansion side will face an imposing first opponent in Seattle, the reigning two-time MLS Cup participants that narrowly lost out on a repeat title last season. Making matters even tougher will be the home crowd at CenturyLink Field, where Sounders FC has led MLS in attendance in seven of the previous eight seasons, last year finishing second in the league with 43,666 fans per game.
Seattle will rely on midfielder Nicolás Lodeiro to create a spark offensively for a club that finished third in the Western Conference last season with 52 goals. The defense, meanwhile, led by Román Torres, a potential participant in the 2018 FIFA World Cup for Panama, finished second in the Western Conference last season with 39 goals allowed.
Seattle will rely on midfielder Nicolás Lodeiro to create a spark offensively for a club that finished third in the Western Conference last season with 52 goals. The defense, meanwhile, led by Román Torres, a potential participant in the 2018 FIFA World Cup for Panama, finished second in the Western Conference last season with 39 goals allowed.
By: Editor
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