LAFC eye bounce back against resurgent rival San Jose Earthquakes | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

Steve Cherundolo was remarkably, impressively evenhanded, considering he and his team had just gotten their hearts torn out on live international television.

Fielding questions from reporters moments after LAFC’s chaotic, riveting, devastating 3-1 loss at Inter Miami on Wednesday night, a result that crashed the Black & Gold out of the Concacaf Champions Cup in the most dramatic fashion imaginable, Cherundolo could somehow still crack a rueful smile now and then as he pondered his side’s latest high-profile heartbreak.

“I don't think you want to know,” he said when asked “what was going through your mind at the final whistle” at Chase Stadium. “And hopefully there are kids watching, so I won't be very descriptive.”

Always the poised, cerebral sort, Cherundolo readily admitted that the instant classic which had just transpired was “exciting” and “very entertaining.” He even said he’d “love to play Miami more regularly and more often,” even in the wake of the emotional gut punch the evergreen magic of Leo Messi had dealt his team, clawing Miami back from a 2-0 aggregate deficit to 3-2 winners in slightly under an hour’s worth of game time.

“It's a tough one to take,” said young striker Nathan Ordaz, the goalscorer in the opening leg. “It's unfortunate how it happened. We were working, but sometimes it just doesn't happen the way you want it to.”

Shifting focus

IMCF’s glory could so easily have been LAFC’s. It would have been understandable had the Angelenos lost track of the cold, hard fact that they had less than 72 hours to go until their next test, an MLS Matchday 8 visit from the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night (10:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass).

“I think that's the beauty of playing in multiple competitions. You get to kind of forget the performances, and you don't have to analyze this thing down to the last play of the game,” said Cherundolo. “The emotions are a part of it, but these are professionals, and they'll deal with that in the right way, and we will be ready Saturday. We'll have a team on the field at BMO ready to win a match.

“It's now clear for us. We need to start focusing on MLS and climbing back up that table.”

That’s the nature of the beast for clubs at the level LAFC aspire to maintain. ConcaChampions tends to inspire obsession among those who get familiar with it – they’ve twice reached the competition's final, falling short on both occasions – and the wear and tear and extreme emotions of CCC runs, most of which end painfully, have inflicted some legendary hangovers on MLS sides over the years.

It can be quite difficult to settle back to earth and pivot to the weekly grind of the league, where the likes of San Jose so often lie in wait, eager to exploit all that. LAFC have lost four of their last five MLS matches while juggling CCC, dropping to ninth place in the Western Conference and 18th in the overall table – leaving them in the unfamiliar position of looking up at the Quakes as this cross-California showdown plays out.

“We are meeting a good team. They haven't started so so well this season, but it's still a good team, so it will be a tough game,” Quakes attacker Amahl Pellegrino told media on Wednesday, explaining how his squad are eager to ride the wave from Sunday’s jaw-dropping 6-1 destruction of D.C. United.

“And it's a derby, so it means a lot.”

Renewed rivalry

If the past is any guide whatsoever, San Jose will need every bit of momentum they can maintain. BMO Stadium has been an utter house of horrors for the Quakes since LAFC entered the league in 2018: Their all-time record at the downtown Los Angeles ground is an atrocious 1W-10L-1D, their only win a 2-1 comeback held behind closed doors due to COVID-19 restrictions in 2020. They lost three times there just last season alone, and by margins of 6-2, 4-1 and 3-1.

Those numbers underline the reality that as young as LAFC are compared to their Bay Area counterparts, the SoCal club are now a reference point for a Quakes organization clambering out from under more than a decade of struggle. In year one under Bruce Arena, who once coached Cherundolo on the US men’s national team, Saturday marks the best circumstances they could ask for in turning a page from that grim history.

Supporters of both of these sides would usually point to the LA Galaxy as their primary rivals. Yet they play one another about as often, and the Quakes have increasingly targeted LAFC, extending the wider ‘beat LA’ mentality that NorCal teams in all sports tend to internalize.

“These games always live their own life, because it's a derby game and it's something special and the atmosphere, it's maybe higher than in a normal game. So you just have to come best prepared to do this game – and to have a really good start, it's important,” said Pellegrino.

“It’s like, when the schedule comes out, you always look after those kind of games.”

Are the favorites vulnerable here? Or might LAFC take out their frustrations on the Quakes instead?

“I think we're going to be starting to tear up the league a lot more,” vowed Ordaz in South Florida. “I think we have a point to prove, and this one hurts.”