MLS Cup: LAFC can’t find comeback magic in loss to Columbus

COLUMBUS, Ohio — They call them miracles for a reason.

Seeking a second consecutive MLS Cup following the dramatic and improbable last-ditch rally in 2022, the Los Angeles Football Club fell short on Saturday, losing 2-1 to the Columbus Crew.

The Crew scored a pair of first half goals, first from the match’s most valuable player, Cucho Hernandez, and then by winger Yao Yeboah, before holding LAFC off over a frantic final stretch that was made more dramatic following a Denis Bouanga score.

Columbus dominated LAFC through the opening 45 minutes, especially down its right side by pushing the ball deep to Ghanaian midfielder Yeboah.

Setting up Hernandez’s opening score, the Crew moved through the center of the pitch, beating Timothy Tillman and Ilie Sanchez before midfielder Aidan Morris hit the ball into space toward the LAFC end line.

Yeboah, 26, first-timed a floated pass to the top of the 18, where Diego Rossi, with his back to goal, attempted to flick it behind him toward the LAFC net.

Defender Diego Palacios, who delivered the perfect pass for Gareth Bale’s game-tying header at the death against Philadelphia, trailed behind the play and moved to intercept Yeboah’s cross.

Former LAFC striker Diego Rossi, who joined the Crew this summer, attempted a redirection. The ball touched Palacio’s right bicep, prompting referee Armando Villareal to blow his whistle and point to the penalty spot.

Hernandez’s subsequent conversion was the first goal LAFC conceded in 400 minutes of playoff action going back to the first match of its opening round series against the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Four minutes later, the Crew, again operating down the left with Yeboah, scored a beauty as a brief burst of rain slicked the pitch.

Just past midfield, full back Malte Amundsen bypassed all 10 LAFC position players, delivering an ideal left footed pass to Yeboah, who had snuck into the box behind Ryan Hollingshead and found himself alone against Crepeau.

The winger took one dribble, beating the Canadian with the outside of his left foot.

“I just think our line of pressure was a little too low,” Cherundolo said. “Didn’t assert enough pressure on the ball and we didn’t protect the middle as much as we wanted to. We normally don’t leave windows like that in our backline, so that combination of things led to two errors.”

Failing to deliver its best punch was the consensus takeaway after LAFC’s defeat in the CONCACAF Champions League final against Club Leon in June.

The same could be said seven months later.

Conversely, the Crew showed up like their first-year head coach Wilfried Nancy hoped.

“The most important for me was not to win,” Nancy said, “it was to be ourselves. The players did it.

“I’m really proud of that as a coach.

LAFC’s iconic Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini wasn’t concerned with crosses inside the box from Columbus, but he was leery about through balls dissecting a backline who did not play narrow enough.

“Rossi, Cucho, [midfielder Alexandru] Matan against me and [Jesus Murillo] can stay 15 days and they cannot score,” Chiellini said. “But in other situations in between the lines, when to adapt quickly, when to adapt fast in shooting, yeah we suffered.”

Other than an opportunity prior to the half, when winger Cristian Olivera worked a cross that bounced off Kellyn Acosta past the far post, LAFC was mostly toothless until a scrambling finish.

Columbus maintained nearly 62% of the possession. Both clubs finished with five shots apiece on target, though LAFC’s better chances came as they tried to engineer a dramatic comeback two years in a row.

They clawed their way into the match when Bouanga found his 38th goal of the year in the 74th minute, tying him with LAFC captain, Carlos Vela for the most scores by an MLS player in a calendar year.

Stepping up to intercept a pass in attacking third for one of the few times in the match, center back Jesus Murillo dribbled into the box before rolling it across to a wide open Bouanga.

The French striker’s one-time blast was saved by 22-year-old Patrick Schulte, who protected the Crew 2’s net as that team won MLS Next Pro last year. Bouanga tucked in the rebound, inducing a hectic final push that featured seven minutes of stoppage time.

“I don’t understand why we started so slowly,” Bouanga said. “We went out on the field with every intention of doing everything properly. I think maybe we were caught up by the emotions of the moment.”

Without a miracle — another Gareth Bale moment — the Crew saw the game out in front of a record crowd at Lower.com Field of 22,802.

“We tried the second half but I think when you don’t start focused, and more when you play away, you know the home team will start strong and you have to be ready for that,” said Vela, who joins goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau, Acosta, Palacios and Chiellini among five starters from Saturday who are out of contract. “In this case we didn’t do that and we paid.”

The result lifted Columbus, one of the league’s inaugural franchises from 1996, to its third MLS Cup victory in four finals appearances (and second in four seasons) after qualifying for 17 postseasons.

LAFC’s 53rd match, an all-time high for an MLS team after playing 40 during its Cup-winning campaign, produced three chances to lift a trophy amid 62,784 miles traveled for its six competitions from March through December.

The missed opportunity to repeat and match their rival, the L.A. Galaxy, which was the last to do so in 2012, coincides with Cherundolo’s first postseason defeat following six straight wins. Cheroundolo would have been one of two coaches to win back-to-back in their first two seasons with a club.

As their competitions came and went and LAFC moved from one setback to another — Champions League, Campeones Cup and tonight — Cherundolo and the front office continued to define the experience as a “success.”

The coach’s opinion went unchanged after Saturday, which won’t appease many of the club’s supporters, including those who filled the top deck behind a goal at Lower.com Field.

“We know how hard it is to make finals,” Vela said. “When you make three you feel bad to lose all of them. I think it’s really disappointing. Really bad feelings. When you are that close and win nothing, you feel like you lost one year.”