CCL Recap: Late giveaway is costly for LAFC in 2-0 defeat
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Feb 19, 2020
LAFC put itself in a hole in its Concacaf
Champions League debut, dropping a 2-0 decision at Mexico's Leon after gifting the Esmeraldas a second goal late in the game on a horrible turnover.
LAFC fell behind on a goal by Jean
Meneses in the 21st minute but seemed to have held off Leon, which missed a slew of close-range chances until the 88th minute when Mohamed El-Munir coughed up the ball, allowing Angel
Mena to beat goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer from close range.
Vermeer was one of three players to make their LAFC debuts along with Uruguayan U-23 Francisco Ginella, a
starter in midfield, and 18-year-old American Bryce Duke, who was the first player off the bench, replacing Mark-Anthony Kaye in the 62nd minute.
Feb. 18 in Leon
Leon 2 LAFC 0. Goals: Meneses 21, Mena 88.
Leon -- Cota, Navarro, Gonzalez, Barreiro, Tesillo, Meneses, J.Rodriguez,
Montes (Zamora 89), Aquino (Ramos, 63), Mena, Sosa (Cardona, 87).
LAFC -- Vermeer, Blackmon, Jakovic, Segura, Palacios (El-Munir 68), B.Rodriguez, Rossi (Perez 76), Ginella, Blessing,
Kaye (Duke 62), Vela.
Ok, ok, ok!!! Not that LAFlost, but that it seems to me that SA takes some glee in writing about their loss to a pretty well trained and prepared team that has been now competing in Liga MX for what, several months now, while the LAFC in barely getting started. The lack of cohesiveness and being several steps behind, as well as not wanting to shoot on goal from outside the box was all too apparent, so now we'll see just how Coach BB adjusts and prepes the team for the rubber match next week.