Ilie Sánchez played the 120 full minutes, then converted the winning penalty kick, to give Laftc it is only MLS Cup Championship.
It was barely two years ago, a season in which Sánchez, who wore the captain's armband in this MLS Cup final, led all the outdoor field players in departures and minutes and made his second alignment of the stars. However, when the LAFC meets the Sounders visiting Seattle on Saturday in the semi-finals of the western conference qualifiers, Sánchez is unlikely to be in the starting alignment.
In fact, he will probably not play at all. And in this, he is not alone.
Six starters and the four substitutes who appeared in this championship match are no longer with the team while another, before Carlos Velaonly played four minutes this season. Thus, while Lafc is the only team to reach the conference semi -finals in each of the last three seasons, she has done so while completely revising her list with only two players – Sánchez and defender Ryan Hollingshead – Starting at least 20 games on the two years.
“It's not normal,” said Sánchez, who only started once in the last 10 games. “In any world league, you cannot find a team, a winning team, that after two seasons only has four or five players remaining and always with all the options to win.”
Massive turnover is design, no coincidence. To induce parity and maintain the competitive MLS, the league pay ceiling increased by less than $ 500,000, to $ 5.47 million, from 2022 to 2024. And although there are designated player contracts and allocation funds that can help finance larger contracts, these mechanisms are limited both in number and in range.
As a result, when players succeed and the merit increases, it becomes difficult to press them under the cap.
“The most difficult thing to do in this league is to be competitive in a sustainable way from year to year,” said LaFC director general, John Thorrington, whose team has won more matches and has raised more trophies than any other in MLS since entering the League in 2018.
“And we have to manage our budget, our lists, our finances so as to help us get there.”
The LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris is one of the players who joined the team during the offseason.
(Etienne Laurent / Associated Press)
Thorrington managed to do so by recharging and rebuilding. The 2022 championship team was led by Cristian Arango And Vela, which combined 28 goals and 13 assists. However, the MLS Cup final was the last black and gold match for Arango, which was sold in Pachuca for transfer fees of $ 6 million, money that has finally made funds for funds for Denis BouangaThe MLS score leader last year, Hollingshead and Vela.
After the final of the MLS Cup last December, which the LAFC lost against Columbus, Thorrington got rid of 13 other players, the alignment and the salary space which allowed it to add the goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, the attackers Olivier Giroud And David Martínez and the fields of the lewis o'brien field and Eduard Atuesta.
But if the names have changed, the objectives and philosophy did not do so – which is why success has also continued.
“Many things must, of course, do with scouting and management staff and coaches who all work towards a common goal. And this common goal will always come from our game model and our players' profiles,” said coach Steve Cherundolo. “If you stay in these directives, then you go, may not reproduce success, but at least the type of football that we present should look like and feel the same.
“I think we were able to do it.”
Hollingshead, an 11 -year -old MLS veteran who came to LAFC less than three weeks before the 2022 season, said that the disabiation of alignment was not unusual. But continuous success is.
“It is difficult to hold the players from a good team. It is impossible,” he said. “What the club did very well here is that they have always filled these holes with a good mix of young guys who are hungry and want to prove themselves and veterans. They did a phenomenal job here.
“It's really special. We cannot take this for granted and think: “Oh, we are still here. Whatever happens, happens. No. We have an incredible opportunity.
Indeed, if the LAFC wins on Saturday, he will move to a victory of a third consecutive final of the MLS Cup, something that no team has done since 2007. That the LAFC realizes or not, one thing seems certain: with the contracts of 17 players expired at the end of the season, according to the TransferMarkt football site, the team of next year will be different.
“The team, it makes this long time and has this phenomenal success, probably some of us will not be there for next season. It is part of the company,” said Sánchez, who was 34 years old Thursday with six weeks to do on her contract. “I expect to be back. But we never have the last word.
“It is very difficult to maintain a group of players season after season. Especially when you win.”
