LAFC IN 2021
As dawn broke on 2021, North America was emerging from a winter COVID surge. At LAFC’s season-opening home match against Austin, a mere 4,900 fans were in attendance due to COVID restrictions. It was an omen of the challenging season to come.
Despite its many trials, however, the Black & Gold’s 2021 campaign carried glimpses of hope that would set the stage for the greatest season in club history.
Carlos Vela, the club’s captain and its first and most decorated player, left that debut game against Austin with a leg injury. Vela would start just 15 of LAFC’s remaining 33 matches, and would play less than half of the 2,726 minutes he’d played in his MVP season (2019). After LAFC won that opener against Austin, they would not win again for more than a month. The bright young forward who came on to replace Vela, Mahala Opoku, went down in May with a season-ending knee injury.
Help arrived in August in the form of striker Cristian “Chicho” Arango, a gifted goal scorer who was acquired from Millonarios F.C. in his native Colombia and went on to set MLS on fire in 2021. Arango (pictured below) finished the season with a team-high 14 goals in 17 MLS appearances, the second-highest total to start a career, and ranked second in MLS in goals per 90 minutes (0.90). He was named MLS Player of the Week twice, earned a spot on the MLS Team of the Week three times, and became the fourth player in LAFC history to register a hat trick when he netted three goals against FC Dallas on October 20. Arango’s breakout year culminated with the MLS Newcomer of the Year award, which placed him among previous recipients and league legends such as Carles Gil, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Miguel Almirón, Nicolás Lodeiro, and Sebastian Giovinco.
The 2021 season also saw the debut of LAFC defender Mamadou Fall (pictured below), an 18-year-old Senegalese center back who joined the Black & Gold in June and would score four goals for LAFC by season’s end. The club also signed its first ever Korean player, fullback Kim Moon-Hwan, who provided the assist on one the year’s most memorable goals, Vela’s matchwinner against Real Salt Lake in July.
The club also said goodbye to two mainstays, forwards Diego Rossi and Brian Rodriguez, who had manned LAFC’s front line for most of the previous three years, scoring memorable goals while helping the Black & Gold win the 2019 Supporters’ Shield.
Despite the team’s injuries and other turbulence, LAFC still had a chance to advance to the MLS Cup Playoffs for the fourth straight season. Instead, the team fell short on Decision Day in Colorado, missing the postseason by just four points.
The club’s starting eleven against the Rapids that day contained only three players (Latif Blessing, Jesús David Murillo, and Diego Palacios) who were on the field when LAFC kicked off its season against Austin back in April. One had departed for Turkey’s top league (Rossi), two had been sidelined by injury (Eduard Atuesta, Eddie Segura), and two others had been transferred elsewhere—a testament to all that had happened over the course of the season.
Another pillar left the lineup when LAFC Original and 16-year MLS veteran Jordan Harvey hung up his boots and transitioned into a front-office role. LAFC’s first and only head coach, Bob Bradley – a three-time MLS Coach of the Year – reached a mutual decision with the club to part ways when his contract ended at the end of 2021.
In all, the season was characterized by the team's tenacity in the face of endless transition, with the club serving as a place of community for fans who were still trying to fend off a pandemic that was finally starting to subside.
The club’s ambitions remained, however. And one year later, LAFC would reign supreme atop Major League Soccer.
Major MLS Honors
- 2021 MLS Newcomer of the Year: Cristian Arango
