He LAFC left behind a streak of four consecutive lost finals by beating Sporting Kansas City in overtime 3-1 tonight in the 2024 edition of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cupin a duel held at BMO Stadium.
A victory that required extra effort from the Los Angeles team because Sporting Kansas City never stopped fighting during the 120 minutes that the hostilities lasted in the American Football Cup competition and where the team where the Mexican Alan Pulido plays had already won this title four times.
For its part, the eleventh of the west coast of the United States achieved for the first time in its history obtaining this title, leaving behind the bad moments that represented losing four previous finals in recent years.
The final matches where the angelino painting had bitten the dust They were in the 2023 Concacaf Champions League when they fell to León of Liga MX 3-1 (aggregate), the 2023 Copa de Campeones to Tigres de la UANL 2-4, the 2023 MLS Cup to the Columbus Crew 1-2, and the 2024 League Cup again to the Columbus Crew 1-3.
In this way the painting LAFC wins unprecedented title which will help them put these bad times behind them in decisive duels, where one more defeat would have been the end for a team that not long ago had everyone in Major League Soccer (MLS) captivated.
The actions
In itself the duel was very even throughout the 120 minutesbecause although LAFC always sought the enemy goal, Sporting Kansas City did not hesitate to respond with attacks set up by Mexican Alan Pulido. However, it was the Los Angeles team that was the first to create danger when French forward Olivier Giroud headed the ball, but his shot went just wide of the Sporting Kansas City goal.
Precisely Through Alan Pulido, Sporting’s response was not long in comingbut French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was barely able to clear the ball to the corner, saving his goal from a brave reaction.
Meanwhile, LAFC looked to continue causing damagebut Sporting’s defense took control of the actions from the safety of goalkeeper Tim Melia, as well as defenders Logan Ndenbe and Robert Voloder, but Khiry Shelton’s effort was great in the first 45 minutes.
Even Shelton not only defended, but also showed strength in the attack when he supported his teammate Johnny Russell when he came very close to putting Sporting Kansas City ahead in the 23rd minute, but once again the French goalkeeper of LAFC kept a clean sheet.
The performance The goalkeeper from Los Angeles motivated his teammates to go forward and in the 31st minute, Ndenbe almost scored the opening goal of the game, but goalkeeper Melia managed to stop the opponent’s shot and precisely ten minutes later, in the 41st, he once again managed to perform an almost miraculous move to keep the score at zero.
In the second half, it was LAFC who opened the scoring. in the 53rd minute through French striker Olivier Giroud. But Sporting were not far behind and levelled the score in the 60th minute when Alan Pulido recovered the ball outside the six-yard box and passed to Daniel Salloi who sent in the perfect cross for Erik Thommy to equalise.
After that goal, Sporting could have taken the lead. When in the 71st minute Pulido had another attempt at goal, But goalkeeper Lloris once again stopped the danger and thus allowed his team to continue putting pressure on Melia’s goal, which in the 75th minute again lowered the curtain to keep its goal intact.
The decisive goals for the title
For extra time, LAFC grew with greater physical fitness and thus was able to take the lead on the scoreboard through Omar Campos in the 102nd minute, which put the game at 2-1 and gave the Los Angeles team more energy so that in the 109th minute Kei Kamara put the cherry on the cake for the important victory that gave the Californian team the valuable title.
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