Olivier Giroud Played in two finals of the World Cup, won a title of the Champions League and the Europa League and scored more goals for France than any player in history.
There is not many things in football that he has not known.
Sunday, however, will bring something new: the playoffs. In Europe, where Giroud has spent the last three months, except the last three, his 20 -year professional career, ending at the top of the League classification means that you are the champion. In MLS, where he plays now, it only means that you have qualified for the playoffs, where everyone starts again.
This can be a difficult concept to grasp.
“I asked the boys to explain it to me. And now I understand that if we go through this first stage with direct elimination, we will play the semi-final of the conference, then the final, then there is a final of the MLS Cup,” said Giroud. “That's it.
“It's different for me so I need to adapt. It is the American style. You finish first (in) the regular season and then you can go out two weeks later (in the playoffs). It's a bit strange. But it's like that.”
Laftc Opens the BMO Stadium playoffs against Vancouver Whitecaps in the first match of a three best. The teams are familiar rivals, after meeting nine times in the past two years, especially in the first round of the playoffs last season. Lafc has a 6-1-2 sheet in these nine games.
THE GalaxyWho joined Lafc at the top of the conference table but who was a second second in the playoffs on an equality break, will meet the rapids of Colorado during their after-season opening match at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday. This series is also a better of the three while the next three playoffs, including the MLS CUP final, are single elimination matches.
“We are not only happy to be in the playoffs. We actually think that we have a team that can compete to win the championship,” said Galaxy coach Greg Vanney, whose team won his two regular season games with Colorado. “We have to go out now and we have to play and there is a whole process to arrive at this time. And it will not be an easy process.
“Now we have to go and execute.”
Giroud will enter the playoffs in search of his first MLS goal, although he scored both in the League Cup and US Open Finals and collected three assists in 10 regular season games since he joined the team last summer. And he is not the only LAFC player to have explained the playoffs. In fact, he is not even the only former player of the French national team to have been a little clear about the idea.
“It will be a new experience for me, especially this round,” said Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, the leader of all time in the appearances for The Blues. “The best of three? This is something really new. The other tours, I know what to expect. But this turn is really interesting.”
LaFC coach Steve Cherundolo grew up in San Diego, but spent most of his gaming and coach career in Germany, where the concept of playoffs is a stranger. But he said it had not been difficult to explain.
“I guess we could win back after the playoffs and see if there were misunderstood concepts or rules, but it's quite simple,” said Cherundolo, whose list includes players from 16 countries. “We communicate everything. It is probably standard of each club at the stadium of the season.”
The Galaxy Marco Reus striker controls the ball in front of the defender of Lafc Aaron Long during a match on September 14.
(Ryan Sun / Associated Press)
However, few of these clubs have gotten used to the playoffs that the LAFC, which only missed the playoffs once during its seven seasons and called on the first team to play in three consecutive finals of the MLS Cup since the New England Revolution in 2007.
Under Cherundolo, who is in his third season at Lafc, the team has never had the end of the season elsewhere than in the league championship match. And in two of these three years, the team finished the regular season at the top of the Western Conference table.
For the galaxy, on the other hand, the playoffs have become a rare treat with the match on Saturday marking just their third appearance in the playoffs since 2016. Lafc and the Galaxy have both finished 19-8-7 and exchanged the head of the conference three times in the last 11 minutes of regular stops last weekend before LaFC did the first place by the first conference of the first conference Galaxy.
It is a disappointment that Vanney said that her team will enter her series with Colorado.
“The result is a reminder that each game counts and that each game is precious at this time of the year,” he said. “The playoffs are a battle. You take nothing for granted. It will be a version.”
And the last team standing at the end of this version will be crowned champion, a concept that Giroud and his teammates do not need to have explained. Although there is another thing about what has been new since in MLS, this crown has also been delivered with another jewel: a championship ring.
“We had one when we won the World Cup,” said Giroud. “I just keep it in a box. It's good, but I can't wear it. I don't have a MLS ring and that's what I'm looking for.
“I really want this ring.”
