Carlos Vela Continues to Roll, LAFC Defeats Montreal, 4-2

Carlos Vela isn’t stopping! The Mexican international who is, without a doubt, the best player in the MLS so far, added another goal to his account. In LAFC’s 4-2 win over the Montreal Impact, the fantastic forward netted one goal and added two more assists, which makes him by far the most productive player in the entire league.

And not only that, his FC is still in the first place on the West, and despite having more games than other clubs, their prospects of staying there look good.

Vela spoke to the journalists after the game, saying that although he posted a good performance, he always wants to play better and to find a way for making his contribution even more effective.

“I’m trying to not be satisfied and want more. I’m hoping to maintain this level for the remainder of the season,” Vela said.

He currently has 15 goals and 9 assists and tops the league in both categories. The next one on the goalscoring standings is Zlatan Ibrahimovic who has 9 scores so far.

Everything started well for Bob Bradley and his boys. After seven minutes of play, one very clumsy reaction of Impact’s goalie Evan Bush practically handed them the lead.

It was the 7th minute when Bush didn’t judge very well the position of the ball and LAFC’s Christian Ramirez. While trying to make a clearance, he hit the player, and the ball deflected straight into the net. Such a shocking opener boosted the morale of the hosts, while on the other side completely stunned the guests from Canada.

Vela then doubled the lead in the 28th minute, by beating Bush with a lovely effort from the box. The Mexican was a part of the third goal also, some three minutes after his own strike.

He took the ball, passed it to Diego Rossi on the far post, who then found Latif Blessing. The 22-year old forward from Ghana executed with the back of his heel.

After a tremendous first half in which they completely dominated the pitch of Banc of California Stadium, having eight shots on goal and possession of 60%, LAFC slowed down in the second 45 minutes.

Despite reaching the fourth goal early on, hosts deflated in the last 20 minutes. Tristan Blackmon used Vela’s corner kick cross to beat Bush for the fourth time in this match. It was the 55th minute. Previously, the Mexican scored one goal, but it was ruled off because of an offside.

After that, there weren’t any shots on Impact’s goal, but on the other side, the guests had five on FC’s net. Two of them ended behind the back of Tyler Miller.

Eddie Segura scored an own goal, after a deflection which hit him. Maximiliano Urruti’s strike wasn’t productive at first, but fortunately for an Impact player, Segura was there to correct the whole thing.

Six minutes before the end, Saphir Taider decreased to 4-2, setting the final result, by converting a penalty.

The fall in the last 20 minutes was the subject of most LAFC guys at the press conference, and at some point, they focused more on that than on the first 70 minutes. Vela too, spoke about it saying that the team needs to talk about it, and avoid similar situations in the future.

“Sometimes you lose that thing in your mind and want to do it by yourself,” the player started explaining. “We have to do that and talk about that. Look we’re a team for 90 minutes and have to find the best option. When we decide to do that for sure we’ll score more goals.”

This was the seventh straight match for the hosts in which they haven’t lost. At the moment they have 34 points in 15 games and are topping the Western Conference. Seattle is second with 26 and two games fewer, while LA Galaxy sits third with one game in hand and 25 points. Houston Dynamo could be a potential threat for the FC, because they have 23 points and four games fewer.

As for Montreal, they are third in the East, three points behind Philadelphia and DC United, but with more games, and it is expected from them to fall down after this round ends. Up next they are awaiting Real Salt Lake on Wednesday, May 29.

LAFC goes to Portland to face Timbers on June 1.