One lesson Steve Cherundolo took from his first season in Major League Soccer was the fact no one, not him nor anyone else, could say for certain which player would impact a match before they did.
“If I knew,” said the second-year head coach of the Los Angeles Football Club, “this would be much easier.”
Forward Mario Gonzalez didn’t join LAFC until this summer, but the 27-year-old Spaniard is well aware of the point his new coach made on the way to winning the club’s initial MLS Cup.
“He said it to the group and to the media,” said Gonzalez, who was one of nine players to suit up for LAFC’s Western Conference championship win last weekend who was not with the organization in 2022. “It’s true, nobody knows.”
That boils down to being ready if your number is called, which is how John McCarthy was voted the MLS Cup MVP against the Philadelphia Union and Gareth Bale added to his considerable lore.
McCarthy started once in league play last season before coming out of nowhere to stymie the Union during the Cup-deciding penalty shootout at BMO Stadium.
If for some reason Maxime Crepeau needed to be removed from the final again, this time Saturday at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio, everyone would be aware that McCarthy is waiting in the wings (this time following 25 MLS regular-season games as starter, as he was the featured goalkeeper from March until the Canadian’s return in the beginning of September).
There is, of course, no chance for more late Bale magic since the famous Welshman is retired. His departure, along with a variety of transactions, prompted by MLS roster rules, regulations and budgeting realities, led to a significant restructuring of the group
Elsewhere are starters Chicho Arango, Jose Cifuentes and Sebastien Ibeagha and bench options Bale, Kwadwo Opoku, Cristian Tello, Seba Mendez, Franco Escobar and Latif Blessing.
In their place, new starters Cristian Olivera and Timothy Tillman, along with potential substitutes in Gonzalez, Sergi Palencia, Aaron Long, Denil Maldonado, Stipe Biuk and Filip Krastev, all wish to be difference makers in the club’s 53rd game of the year.
Whether they joined LAFC in the offseason, or were brought in during the summer transfer window, “it’s been awesome to see a new group come together and be just as hungry as the group last year,” said Cherundolo, who noted differences in the way the two groups play and a younger bench “that possesses some really high potential players.”
Through the postseason, the most impactful newcomers have been Tillman, starting alongside Ilie Sanchez and Kellyn Acosta in the midfield, and Olivera, the pacey Uruguayan international who provided verticality to the right side of an attack dominated by Carlos Vela and Denis Bouanga.
“They’ve taught me a lot about experience and patience,” said Olivera, who started seven of the 10 regular-season games he appeared in after arriving in early August, to go with four starts in the playoffs. “My job and what I learn from them is always try to find the space with through balls and empty spaces.”
The winger’s “physical performances, his running, has been second to none,” Cherundolo said.
Tillman, a 24-year-old German-American, started hot as LAFC jumped into CONCACAF Champions League alongside its MLS regular-season schedule, but suffered from injuries and fatigue before regrouping to feature in Cherundolo’s last eight starting lineups.
“He’s one of my boys off the field as well,” Acosta of his new midfield partner. “I’m super happy to share the field with him. He’s a guy that brings that tenacity, that aggressiveness and has good feet. He scored some crucial goals for us in the season. We’re just hoping he continues on that path and gets some goals this weekend.”
Polish attacker Mateusz Bogusz, acquired from Leeds United in March, played himself into a consistent piece of Cherundolo’s calculations, appearing in each playoff match, including starting their opening 5-2 win against Vancouver.
For the versatile 22-year-old, who carried the same winning expectations about LAFC with him as the other newcomers had when they came aboard, he was physically tested playing 70 games, including with UD Ibiza, a middling second-division Spanish club. The MLS Cup will be his first opportunity to participate in a league final.
“I’m very motivated,” said Bogusz following a three-goal, four-assist regular season. “It’s hard to say what I feel because I’m so emotional waiting for this day. I hope we’ll make it.
“I am a more confident player than I was. When you’re playing for something important, you change.”
Croatian forward Stipe Biuk, 20, also endured a steep learning curve during his first year playing outside his home country, showing flashes of the potential that made him a target for LAFC, but not often enough. Biuk started once since the Leagues Cup concluded in August, and his last goal was in July.
Filip Krastev, 22, was added to the roster after the midway point of the season, and in limited opportunities looked like a hungry, goal-driven midfielder.
“I think the guys are really professional and the people that take care of the players are doing an amazing job,” the Bulgarian said. “We, the players, have everything we need at the club.”
For defensive options, Cherundolo has leaned all year on former UC Riverside star Aaron Long, Sergi Palencia from Spain and Denil Maldonado, three-time champion of the top flight in Honduras.
Long, a 31-year-old MLS veteran and free-agent acquisition, extended his streak of never missing the playoffs. The 2018 Supporters’ Shield winner gets his first crack at winning the MLS Cup on Saturday.
“To get into these games is so hard,” the Oak Hills native said. “No matter how good of a team you had, there’s always so many things in the way. Every team in the league is fighting for the same thing. There’s a million things that can go wrong. So when you get everything to go right in a season and the opportunity to play in a final, it’s so special. And this group knows it because they went through it now and they won.”
Cherundolo called having three center backs at his disposal the caliber of Long, Giorgio Chiellini and Jesus Murillo – the pair who started each playoff match in the middle of the backline – “pretty incredible.”
Long’s contributions extended into a leadership role in his first season home in L.A. after being a mainstay of the New York Red Bulls since 2017.
“There’s a peace about him,” Cherundolo said. “He likes being here. And he’s helped us be successful all season long through his leadership off the field as well, and in the locker room.”
Regardless of the name or number on the jersey, Cherundolo’s messaging resonated with the group ahead of LAFC’s second consecutive MLS Cup appearance, which, who knows, might require an unsuspecting face to deliver at the biggest moment.
“I don’t know who is going to influence the game in a positive or negative way,” Cherundolo said. “That’s what I love about these games, in particular. These games are decided by the players.”