LAFC Wins Season Opener Behind Vela’s Hat Trick
LAFC began its 5th season in Major League Soccer today against the Colorado Rapids. Only Carlos Vela and Latif Blessing survive from that inaugural 2018 season. This season, they also have a new leader at the helm in Steve Cherundolo. He is the teams second ever coach after Bob Bradley stepped down at the conclusion of last season. This is the fourth time LAFC hosts an opening day match at the Banc, and they are 4-0 in these season openers.
On this beautiful, sunny, southern California day that boasted 70-degree weather, LAFC was looking to jump-start the season against the Colorado Rapids. Both teams got off to a sluggish start but that changed in the 29th minute. A penalty kick was awarded to the home team which team captain, Carlos Vela, then converted it into his 1st goal of the 2022 season. This was Vela’s 57th goal as a member of LAFC. It turned out to be just what Cherundolo’s team needed to apply more pressure on the visiting team, as just seven minutes later Vela scored his second goal of the match. Jose Cifuentes got credit for the assist. In that seven minute span, LAFC took control of the match and it was enough to last into the half with the score being 2-0 in favor of the black and gold.
The second half went underway and in the 50th minute, Jose Sifuentes completed his second assist of the match as Carlos Vela netted his third goal of the match. This marked Vela’s 3rd hat trick with LAFC and his 60th career goal with the Black and Gold. His previous hat tricks came on 3/30/19 at San Jose and 10/6/19 versus Colorado. As the game concluded fans got loud and cheered the home team as they nailed another home-opening victory with a score of 3-0. The next game for LAFC is scheduled for Sunday, March 6th vs Portland Timbers at 6:00 pm.
