Los Angeles Football Club has failed a few times to win its first championship in its short history.
LAFC qualified for the conference semi-finals in 2019 and for the final of the CONCACAF Champions League tournament last year.
As the club officially entered Year 4 on Monday with the opening of preseason training camp, one thing springs to mind.
“It’s time to start winning titles,” said midfielder Eduard Atuesta. “This is our next step.”
LAFC started camp with a large majority of familiar faces, with the exception of Brian Rodriguez, who is now on loan at Almeria in Spain.
The club have stepped up their defensive depth this offseason, adding Marco Farfan and Kim Moon-Hwan to accompany a solid backline from Tristan Blackmon, Jesus David Murillo, Diego Palacios and Eddie Segura. On offense, the club added Corey Baird in a trade with Real Salt Lake and drafted forward Daniel Trejo.
More depth equals more competition in camp, which is good for coach Bob Bradley.
“When new players come in, it’s always about coming up with ideas,” Bradley said. “There is no style of play, there are things we believe in, the details always change slightly.
“We are always looking to improve. When (Jesus David) Murrillo arrived last year, very quickly he established himself as a central defender, a presence, a leader, so it worked out really well that we could take his option and bring him back here. We’re always looking to find good parts to challenge guys. I think the depth of the whole team creates competition and we are delighted with that.
Heading into its fourth season, Blackmon isn’t afraid of what will be a competitive training camp.
“It’s a big year ahead, there is a lot to look forward to. I’m just trying to be there every moment, ”Blackmon said. “It’s best when you have to fight every workout, every week for a starting position. That’s what drives you every day, knowing that you have someone to fight against, someone to keep you level to keep playing well. I think you guys get the best out of guys when there’s this internal competition.
LAFC currently has 26 players on its roster. His three draft picks (Trejo, Alvareo Quezada and CC Uche) were invited to training camp. With Rodriguez leaving, the club have a designated player spot available.
“I think for the start of the season the roster is pretty tight,” said Bradley. “We will have the opportunity to assess things in the first part of the season. The biggest transfer window, as everyone knows, is in the summer, if that means there are other possibilities for guys leaving, but then that becomes the goal that we look at so many different guys and let’s try to keep ideas open on what we’re going to need in the summer.
“We’re still a relatively young team in all of this. We know there are some talented young players potentially walking away from LAFC, so to prepare for all of these days you have to have other young players, whether from the academy, whether we find them. in different parts of the world, who are coming and starting to be a part of LAFC and understand how we want to play.
Until then, it’s back to the lab for LAFC. The club have only scheduled three preseason games, but they will certainly do their job.
“We feel great about the training that we get every day,” Bradley said. “We play 11v11 a lot in different ways in training throughout the week, so we feel that our ability to add ideas and get our team ready to start the season is always based on how we feel. train every day.
