LAFC knows what to expect in Seattle for MLS conference semifinal – Daily News

LAFC midfielder Ryan Hollingshead, left, plays the ball off his head in front of Seattle’s Jackson Ragen during the first half June 21, 2023, at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Five years ago, the Los Angeles Football Club simply didn’t have enough know-how to beat the Seattle Sounders when it mattered most.

With a conference championship on the line, Bob Bradley’s record-setting Supporters’ Shield winners were “flying,” Sounders coach Brian Schmetzer recalled before the foes’ next playoff encounter in a Western Conference semifinal Sunday night at Lumen Field. “[Carlos] Vela in his prime. They were up and down. They were showtime. It was like L.A. They were really good.”

Not that Vela’s record-setting goal tally, the sophomore club’s mark for the most points by an MLS team or any other metric mattered much to Schmetzer and his players in 2019, when, in Seattle’s fifth meeting versus LAFC, they pulled off the biggest moment yet in a budding rivalry.

Winning the first three meetings, including the club debut in Seattle and a month later christening Banc of California Stadium with late heroics, LAFC was unbeaten through four regular-season matches with the Sounders prior to watching them celebrate at then-Banc of California Stadium.

Seattle took the chance in 2019 and cashed in a second MLS Cup under Schmetzer.

The setback, meanwhile, gave LAFC an opportunity to mature on the road to last year’s league championship.

When it came to Vela and his LAFC teammates learning how to win their way, few opponents have served as bigger measuring sticks than Seattle.

The latest example came this summer, when LAFC fell short in the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League final the year after Seattle won it all.

“I think they know how to play big games. Maybe the only organization that I’m aware of that has that many big games the last 10 years, since Brian has been in charge, really,” said current LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo, who succeeded Bradley in 2022 and claimed the club’s first star on the jersey. “So they understand big games. I think the biggest reason is they’re just a good team. They have a lot of good players who understand the moment and understand.”

Over his short but busy tenure with LAFC, Cherundolo, like Bradley, opened his account with the Sounders by going unbeaten in four consecutive regular-season matches.

A scoreless draw at Lumen Field and a 1-0 LAFC win at BMO Stadium were stingy affairs between two of the best defensive units in MLS this year.

“They have a defensive concept that works with the players they have and they work together as a group,” Cherundolo said. “Everybody defends as a collective, whether they are higher or lower they are compact and difficult to break down. They are athletic, which helps as well, and experienced. It’s one of the teams, I would put us in that category as well, who also focuses on that side of the ball and recruits good defenders, not just good attackers. I just think Seattle is a well-balanced team physically, tactically and technically.”

Said Schmetzer, who described Cherundolo as more pragmatic than Bradley in his tactical approach: “They’re good defensively, too. They have quality center backs – they’ve got too many center backs. Hollingshead is a tremendous player. Palacios.”

Both sides’ shot-denying ability was on display in their regular-season meetings in 2023. LAFC managed a paltry five shots on goal, while Seattle had six in their two matches. The Black & Gold scored once, the Sounders did not.

No group better bottled up Vela and Golden Boot winner Denis Bouanga, limiting the pair to three shots on target over a combined 286 minutes.

Seattle is unbeaten in 19 consecutive playoff games at home – albeit with one penalty shootout loss in 2021 –going back to 2014, the longest home playoff streak in MLS history.

LAFC lost just one of its last 11 knockout matches against MLS teams.