Grateful Ilie Sanchez, LAFC look to extend momentum in Colorado

To his teammates, Ilie Sanchez is known as the Maestro. Or Professor. The Brain. The Nucleus.

The straw that stirs Los Angeles Football Club’s drink since joining the team last year as a free agent added another title on Wednesday.

“I like to call him a gringo now,” said Kellyn Acosta, who greeted Sanchez with chants of “U-S-A! U-S-A!” when his fellow midfielder, hailing from the Catalonia region of Spain, returned to the LAFC Performance Training facility following a successful naturalization interview. “He’s American and it’s definitely super special.”

Moving to the U.S. in 2017, following a flight from Barcelona to Tucson, Ariz., Sanchez was warmly greeted by representatives of Sporting Kansas City and shortly thereafter received a green card.

Five years later, surrounded by new friends in L.A., Sanchez, 32, waved a small American flag in celebration of his citizenship with thoughts of settling down in the States after his playing days were done.

“Growing up, my mentality was always to be where people want me to be and so far I’ve had amazing opportunities here in the U.S. to have a job that I really enjoy and really fight for,” Sanchez said. “Once I retire, or if I keep building my soccer career here, that would be an awesome situation if I could stay here for so many years.

“Nothing changed for me from yesterday when I wasn’t a citizen to today that I finally became one of you guys, but still I hope that in the next years to come I can keep building relationships and moments and memories here in the U.S.”

Currently, that means doing what he can to propel LAFC forward.

Next for Sanchez and the group is the Colorado Rapids at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, where LAFC has not won since 2018.

“We didn’t look good there last year so we still have something we’d like to prove,” LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo said. “It’s a team who is ready to win their first game of the season and we’ll have to do everything in our power to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

After missing the playoffs following a Western Conference title in 2021, the Rapids (0-3-2, 2 points) have struggled to earn points and sit at the bottom of the league standings.

LAFC (3-0-1, 10 points) also picked up where it left off and is one of four unbeaten MLS teams heading into the Saturday evening encounter near Denver, which opens another congested segment of the early-season schedule that could amount to eight games in April if LAFC advances to the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals.

As the first leg of the quarterfinal round against Vancouver looms in Canada next week, there is no utility in looking past the Rapids. That means counting on Sanchez to do his part in the center of the park, where he has served as a “super efficient, hard-working, very clever and intelligent” contributor over 37 regular-season games and LAFC’s 2022 MLS Cup run, Cherundolo said.

“Ilie means a lot to us, as a person first,” the coach added. “Great. Just an unbelievable human being. Very kind. Great communicator. Somebody who takes other people’s feelings into consideration before his own. Really just an all-out leader for us. A fantastic guy to have in our locker room and our club. We’re extremely blessed to have him.”

LAFC AT COLORADO

When: Saturday, 6:39 p.m. PT

Where: Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, Colo.

TV/Radio: Apple TV+ – MLS Season Pass/710 AM, ESPN LA App, 980 AM