COLUMBUS, Ohio — Six years into its existence, LAFC is on the doorstep of history.
Against the Columbus Crew on Saturday, the club will attempt to become the fourth team to repeat as MLS Cup champions — and first to complete the back-to-back with a true road game.
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The difficulty of such an accomplishment isn’t lost on second-year coach Steve Cherundolo.
“Roster building and rules and regulations make it difficult to kind of roll the same team back out,” Cherundolo said. “And there’s 29 teams in our league now and all very competitive with a lot of good organizations and teams. It just makes it hard to win again.”
LAFC has returned to the league’s biggest stage despite a demanding schedule that has seen the club play 52 matches across multiple competitions, including a run to the Concacaf Champions League final. Last year, when Cherundolo guided LAFC to the club’s first MLS Cup, the team played just 41 games.
Given the additional challenges the team has had to navigate, it makes this possibly the most unlikely repeat in league history.
