Weekend update: Vanneyball reigns supreme
Shoutout to LAFC for doing me a favor.
After Mark Delgado’s 56th minute curler broke the deadlock against a shorthanded Houston Dynamo thanks to Antonio Carlos stomping the crap out of Son Heung-Min, the game was relatively decided at the hour mark, allowing me to switch to the Galaxy game with ease.
Annoyingly that meant I missed Stephen Eustáquio’s sublime rocket from distance to seal the 2-0 victory, their first in Houston since 2019. Is it too early to start speculating about that 7€ purchase option?
Both goals were strikes outside the 18-yard box, a hugely positive sign for a team working to improve at unlocking opponents set up in a low block.
“The two goals came from a short corner kick…Andy (Rose) works a lot with the players, and it was really good plays, both midfielders getting involved,” Marc Dos Santos clarified afterward.
Now we can add “Improvement on short corners” to the list of cool things MDS has done during his short reign.
LAFC have won their first four matches for the first time in club history.
(I was supposed to mention the Happy Foot Sad Foot live show June 13th at the Elysian Theater, but they sold out in under two hours so no point in doing that. Can confirm Travis didn’t buy out the theatre with his own cash)
Believe it or not, the Galaxy bested LAFC this week. While it took the Black and Gold roughly 60 minutes to secure their result, the Blue White and Gold did it in 15, battering Charlotte with three early goals.
There were a myriad of reasons for the lopsided victory. Charlotte FC flew cross-country and aren’t exactly firing on all cylinders. That being said, the result fundamentally stemmed from Greg Vanney’s progressive decision making.
The formation tweak from the 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1 gave the wingers more space to attack and was crucial to Gabriel Pec’s success on the night. Lucas Sanabria as a No. 10? A risky gambit, but it paid off.
“He’s not going to probably give you the savvy pass Marco (Reus) is going to give you, but he does give you some of that ground covering, dualing actions…” Vanney noted during the postgame presser.
”He’s a guy who can pick up 4, 5, 6 goals just a year just getting himself in that box, trailing plays, even just picking up scraps sometimes.”
Joáo Klauss was an absolute menace with his pressing, which led to the third goal as the Brazilian intercepted Andrew Privett’s pass before gliding past Tim Ream and neatly finishing around a bewildered Kristijan Kahlina.
“He sets the tone. When everybody behind looks to the guy in front who is working like he’s working, you have no choice but to work with him. That’s what I love. His mentality has been fantastic. He’s a great guy for our locker room, and when he goes out there, he goes out there to work. He leads us on the defensive side. Never takes shortcuts. Obviously, he’s big and he’s strong and hard to deal with for center-backs. I like the work he’s putting in.”
Here’s what I’m wondering.
Though the sample size is small, Edwin Cerrillo paired well with the excellent Elijah Wynder. If they continue to perform, could this be the reason Vanney needs to shift Justin Haak to the center back position he thrived at for NYCFC?
Watching Maya Yoshida struggle with distribution at times on Saturday, I couldn’t help but think it’s worth a try.