Max Bretos, who has been the voice of the Black & Gold since LAFC’s inception, will call arguably one of the biggest matches in club history Saturday night, as LAFC takes on Club América in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Play-In Match at BMO Stadium. The high-stakes game will be globally available live on DAZN.com and the DAZN app for free. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
LAFC.com: This club has seen some big matchdays. November 5, 2022, the MLS Cup Final. June 4, 2023, the second leg at home against León in the Concacaf Champions League Final. Where does May 31, 2025, rank among the big matches in LAFC history?
Max Bretos: It probably has to be one, right? Because of the magnitude of what you get as a result. I don't want to get too caught up in the financial impact, but it is significant, and the FIFA Club World Cup— teams are dying to get in there, and LAFC can achieve that in 90 minutes. It’s an opportunity that comes as a result of LAFC’s success, right? Look at the domino effect: winning MLS Cup, you get into the 2023 Concacaf Champions Cup, then you get to that final… you get into this game. So, Saturday represents one more peg up the mountain. The fact that you're in this game means that you have won almost everything in your path, like Club América, who are a juggernaut in Mexican football. So how about 1A. I’ll say, 1A.
LAFC.com: Your thoughts on LAFC’s opportunity to advance and compete against these powerful, 100-year-old clubs from around the world. Man City, Bayern, PSG …
Max Bretos: It’s huge in terms of what it can do to build a global brand. Everyone wants to test themselves against the top European clubs. You get one shot at it every four years. And now LAFC has all this pressure in one game to produce. The European teams have a big target on them. We’ve had this Intercontinental Cup and the Club World Cup for years, and some of us wonder if these European teams take it seriously, but they come out and win it 75 percent of the time. Once in a while a South American team wins it. What FIFA is doing with the increased prize money is just gonna maintain that focus for these European clubs. The European clubs are what make this tournament so massive, because they are the biggest names, they're gonna bring the biggest stars, and they provide a target for the rest of the world. What I'm excited to see is what the rest of the world can bring in this competition— the six teams in South America, the four or five teams from our region, and from Africa and Asia. This is their shot to get at these European teams. These big clubs in Europe, if they think they're just gonna take a light 90-minute run they're gonna be in for a rude awakening. For LAFC, this has never happened before, this chance to test yourself against these clubs, these different styles, and see where you are. It's such a great shared space because you're going to showcase what you can do for the world.
LAFC.com: What are you looking forward to as a broadcaster, being in the booth that night at BMO Stadium?
Max Bretos: The stakes. There are 90 minutes of football to be played and so much is gonna be determined. Whoever wins this – and we're looking at it through LAFC's perspective – if LAFC wins on the 31st it’s gonna change everything for the club. And if LAFC loses it's gonna be a punch in the stomach. The same could be said for Club América. Knowing that a bounce of the ball, a quick start, a freak red card can alter so much in this game—we've never seen stakes like this on a club level. It’s one game, sink or swim. As a broadcaster, it's amazing to participate in something of that nature, where I truly don't know what to expect.
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LAFC hosts Club América at BMO Stadium for the last spot in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.
LAFC.com: MLS Cup means reaching a summit, and yes it leads to Concacaf Champions Cup the following year and everything else, but this is a door to an even bigger match two weeks later, isn’t it?
Max Bretos: You win this game and all of a sudden you're in Willy Wonka's factory. You're in this whole new world you never knew existed and where you don't know what to expect. If you’re an LAFC fan, you can visualize LAFC coming out onto the field in Atlanta and lining up against Chelsea, you visualize Denis Bouanga running at [Chelsea centerback] Levi Colwill, or Igor Jesus knocking the ball away from [Chelsea forward] Cole Palmer. Or [Flamengo midfielder Giorgian de] Arrascaeta going against Timothy Tillman. I mean, I visualize it, and I know I'm not the only one.
LAFC.com: Looking back on that February 11th preseason friendly against América, how will May 31st be different than that match in terms of the level?
Max Bretos: That friendly to me didn't feel like a preseason game by any means. It felt like there was some importance. Even now LAFC is reaping the benefits of that match. I mean, that showed us that Nate Ordaz had arrived. That wasn't a friendly against the Earthquakes at Coachella. So, I don't want to minimize that February game too much, because I know for sure that Steve and the players came out and said, The season starts now. Let's play how we're going to play in the opening week of MLS and get the most out of this. It was intense. Not just the crowd, which was electric, but the way it was played. I mean the players were really locked in and they didn't want to lose. It was as if they knew this next game was going to come. It just feels like it's meant to be between these two.
LAFC.com: For LAFC fans who may not know Brian Rodriguez, introduce us to this player: his time with the Black & Gold, with Uruguay, his current position with América, and why he's important to LAFC.
Max Bretos: When Brian arrived at LAFC he was the biggest signing not named Vela or Rossi. I remember speaking to Jorge Ramos, who is a prominent sports personality here in the United States, he's from Uruguay, and he said, “This is Uruguay's number one prospect,” which – at that time guys like Federico Valverde [currently with Real Madrid] and Darwin Nunez [currently with Liverpool] were coming out of there. But Brian was the golden child. I remember talking to people and they’d go, ‘You're looking at potentially a $30 million player.’ He was a good soldier when he was at LAFC, and you could tell he enjoyed the time, but it always felt like he was this close to exploding, becoming a superstar. You'd see flashes of it.
That goal against the Galaxy, you could see the talent that made him so highly regarded. He's still a young player and he's gone to América and had some success as part of the most successful team arguably in Mexican history. I always hold out that his best days are ahead because he's such a talent. He’s had a nice revival, and I'm pulling for him. I would love to see him become a big star.
LAFC.com: Who are the other players to watch for América?
Max Bretos: Obviously [Alejandro] Zendejas, who is a dual national player who plays with the U.S. National Team, he has produced excellent numbers, but to me the best part about América is the team itself and everything they can throw at you. Jonathan Dos Santos is the most recognizable player. He's 35 years old now, but there's some really good players, and guys who have been great in Liga MX for many years. Alvaro Fidalgo is a guy who produces good moments and has been a Club América staple for some time. The front three with Zendejas, Henry Martín and Victor Dávila, they can really throw anything at you for their coach, Jardine. But it's not just the starting 11, they have, like, eight rock stars on the bench. They have a guy called Chicote [Cristian Calderón] who's been a star in the league, but he didn't get off the bench [in the first leg of the Clausura Final vs. Toluca Friday night].
For LAFC, that's why I'm glad it's one game and not two games. I think in two games América would be the favorite. You hear Steve Cherundolo and a lot of people in MLS say it’s hard to compete with Mexico because of the finances. LAFC will have probably the best player on the field in Denis Bouanga, but they [América] probably have seven of the best 10, and maybe 11 of the best 15 players overall. If MLS wants to be at América's level, they need to have luxury players, which is what Club América does. Everybody that they bring off the bench could start for any other team in Mexico without question.
LAFC.com: If we look at each team's lead-up to this match in a competitive sense, América is playing in a league final while LAFC is playing its MLS regular season schedule. Is there anything to read into that in terms of the level these two teams will carry into Saturday?
Max Bretos: I think so. I would like to hear from the experts. I was watching América play Cruz Azul, and some LAFC supporters were hoping that América would lose so they might have a dark week that would take them off the boil a little bit. It didn't happen, but then I started spinning it and I go: This is a lot on their plate, and after putting so much emotion into this playoff run América is gonna have to do it again [against LAFC]. But it's different, it's not a home and away, so there's some elements that LAFC can take to their advantage. You’re asking América to go through a Mexican playoff that lasts four weeks, and now to turn it on again in a different place, away from your home country. I think there are some advantages for LAFC.
LAFC.com: Other than the chance to enter this big global competition with these massive clubs—Juventus, Real Madrid, all the others—how does LAFC benefit from this match?
Max Bretos: Outside of playing these big teams and the financial windfall, any time you can do something that most clubs don't have the opportunity to do, it puts you on a certain level. The Club World Cup only happens every four years. The FIFA World Cup, you have 200, 250 countries that are trying to qualify for it. The FIFA Club World Cup, you have thousands of teams from all over the world who are eligible. So, the clout that comes from saying that you've been there is important. When the Sounders got to play in it, just to be part of it, is something they can hang their hat on for as long as that club exists. Being in the biggest competitions and saying you've been there is important if you want to be the club that LAFC wants to be—one that delivers the goods when it comes to the big tournaments. That's the lasting thing. Again, that’s why these 90 minutes on Saturday, or maybe it goes longer, are so monumental. You run out of fingers on your hands when you start counting all the good things that come from being part of the Club World Cup. Just that clout to be part of it is something the club can always lean into and say, ‘We were there.’
LAFC hosts Club América in the FIFA Club World Cup Play-In Match at BMO Stadium at 7:30 p.m. PT. on Saturday, May 31. The winner will automatically qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, which begins June 14.
