LAFC rallies late to win their first MLS Cup in penalty shootout
The 2022 MLS Cup belongs to the Los Angeles Football club.
LAFC topped the Philadelphia Union in a penalty shootout following a thrilling 3-3 tie Saturday at Banc of California Stadium. Ilie Sánchez scored the winning spot kick after LAFC backup keeper John McCarthy, a Philadelphia native and former Union player, stopped all but one of the three attempts he faced.
McCarthy entered the match during extra time following starter Maxime Crepeau being shown a red card. Crepeau, a Canadian international, suffered a gruesome leg injury on the play, surely preventing him from traveling to Qatar for the 2022 FIFA World Cup this month.
Philly came back to equalize twice in the game, and took the lead for the first time on Jack Elliott's second of the match in the 124th minute. But former Real Madrid star Gareth Bale, who hadn't played a minute of the postseason before coming off the bench in the extra session, sent the contest to the tiebreaker in the final minute of stoppage time:
LAFC also won the Supporters Shield in 2022 for the second time in four seasons. It became just the fourth regular-season champion in the last two decades to hoist the MLS Cup in the same year.
Here are three takeaways from Saturday's match.
Worthy champ LAFC's first title won't be its last
When LAFC entered MLS in 2018, it instantly established itself as one of the league's leading clubs. It dominated all comers in its second season, and in 2020 nearly became the first MLS team to win the CONCACAF Champions League (the Seattle Sounders finally did it last May) before missing the playoffs last season.
LAFC was the standard bearer again this year, its first under new coach Steve Cherundolo, leading the pack almost all season and staving off a late challenge by Philly to claim the Shield for the second time in its short history.
Now it has the trophy it wanted most. It didn't come easy. Despite a blistering start to the year, general manager John Thorrington took the risky step of overhauling LAFC's roster midseason, bringing in Bale, longtime Italian national team lynchpin Giorgio Chiellini and striker Denis Bouanga.
All made important contributions when called upon; it was both fitting and unsurprising that Bale, who had done next to nothing since his July debut, scored a vital goal when his team needed it most. But so did the cadre of MLS veterans that Thorrington painstakingly recruited last winter. On Saturday, Crepeau literally broke his leg saving a goal. United States midfielder Kellyn Acosta scored LAFC's first. Sánchez coolly potted his shootout attempt, as did underrated and dependable fullback Ryan Hollingshead.
"We made it to the top," Cherundolo told FOX reporter Kyndra de St. Aubin afterward. "It wasn't our best day, but this team, as they did all season long, found a way."
With its first MLS Cup destined for the trophy case, it will be interesting to see where LAFC goes from here. Claiming the CONCACAF title will be a top priority, but there will be changes in the dressing room. Carlos Vela is under contract for the foreseeable future. Bale is signed through next season, though it wouldn't be surprising if he left early. Cherundolo could draw interest from the U.S. men's national team if current coach Gregg Berhalter, whose current pact expires next month, leaves after the World Cup. It's too early to know how Crepeau's recovery will go.
Those are issues for another day. Right now, LAFC is relishing its status as kings of MLS.
Proud Philadelphia Union will eventually win MLS Cup
It's impossible to get any closer to the title than Jim Curtin's side did Saturday. Elliott's extra time goal was the latest strike in MLS playoff history; nine additional minutes were tacked on to the half-hour extra session to account for the time it took to stabilize Crepeau and cart him off the field.
At that point, it looked like LAFC was toast. It took a special moment from a special talent with a long history of them – Bale on two separate occasions scored the goal that gave Real Madrid a UEFA Champions League crown – to deny them. That's why the hosts signed the Welsh star. And one could argue that that was the difference, that comparatively frugal Philadelphia simply didn't have a high-priced match-winner to bring off the bench while big-spending LAFC did.
Nonsense. Philadelphia was every bit the equal of LAFC all season, and it was the same on Saturday. The Union were beaten more by one of its own than by Bale. The 30-year-old McCarthy, a penalty kick specialist, played 20 MLS games with the club from 2015-18 but wasn't re-signed when his contract expired.
That's how it goes sometimes. Philly will still be an MLS Cup contender for as long as Curtin is at the helm. The Union are among the best-run, best-coached clubs in the league. It has a deep roster and an identity that reflects its gritty city, and its track record of turning academy products into first team mainstays is second to none.
As much as this one hurts, Philadelphia's time will come.
MLS couldn't have wished for a better final
The first title match between the top seeds in each conference since 2003 more than lived up to the hype. Both teams came to play; after feeling each other out for the first quarter-hour, the gloves came off and it was end-to-end the rest of the way.
This game had everything. Six goals – two in the final seven minutes of normal time, and two more after that. Six lead changes. A backup goalie playing the hero against his hometown team. A red card. An off-the-charts atmosphere at the Banc. Bale's Hollywood moment.
"I don't even think it's debatable," FOX color analyst Stu Holden said. "This is the best game I have ever seen in this league."
Justin Bieber certainly liked what he saw:
It capped a banner 2022 for MLS, which smashed its previous TV viewership and attendance records this year and signed a mega new streaming deal with Apple. Now many of MLS' best players will head to the World Cup in Qatar, where they'll fly the league's flag in front of a global audience of billions.
What can MLS do for an encore in 2023?
Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.