Eduard Atuesta has found a new forever home with Los Angeles FC and believes the Black and Gold are benefitting from being more tactically versatile.
LAFC face Realt Salt Lake in their next MLS meeting, aiming to extend their lead at the top of the Western Conference against the second-placed side, who are level on points.
Steve Cherundolo's side were hammered 5-1 at home by Columbus Crew in their last outing, however.
Yet Atuesta believes LAFC have transformed their fortunes, and are benefitting from greater tactical fluidity and flexibility in their league push.
"I think we're more diligent tactically now," the midfielder said. "The LAFC I was part of with Bob [Bradley] was an LAFC that probably was much more about having the ball, possession, we had a lot of control of the game because we had the ball.
"One way was keeping the opponent down with the ball, the other being hard-working and then being dangerous when it’s time to counter-attack or create and be more vertical.
"Those are the differences I've found."
Atuesta is somewhat adored by LAFC supporters after helping the club to Supporters' Shield glory in 2019, a success he wants to build upon.
"I came here when I was really, really young, but had the desire to learn as much as possible, learn from the veterans and understand quickly how the league works, how I could adapt as quickly as I could," he added.
"I'm now a player with more experience, more titles and with a desire to keep winning a lot, a lot of trophies with LAFC."
Salt Lake suffered their own disappointment in their last outing after a 3-0 humbling against Portland Timbers.
Pablo Mastroeni's side have won three of their last five games, though, and will hope to strike a top-of-the-table blow here.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Los Angeles FC – Denis Bouanga
Denis Bouanga, alongside goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, was recently named in the MLS All-Star team after scoring 14 goals in 22 appearances this year.
The LAFC forward also has nine league assists to his name, and will be the primary threat against RSL.
Real Salt Lake – Andres Gomez
With Cristian Arango suspended for the next four games, Andres Gomez will be expected to step up in his absence.
The latter Real Salt Lake is one of only 10 players in MLS this year with 18 or more goal contributions – Gomez has managed 19.
MATCH PREDICTION – LOS ANGELES FC WIN
Los Angeles may have suffered their heaviest home defeat in club history against the Crew, but they are still the heavy favourites for this clash.
Cherundolo's side were unbeaten in 13 games across all competitions before that Columbus hammering, conceding just seven goals across that impressive run.
LAFC will hope to recharge another similar streak with victory here, though it may not be as straightforward as the pre-match predictions suggest.
RSL have recorded back-to-back wins over Los Angeles, including a 3-0 home win on March 2. The visitors had won just two of their first 15 all-time meetings with LAFC in all competitions (L13), however.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Los Angeles FC win – 52.1%
Draw – 24.4%
Real Salt Lake win – 23.4%
Nashville SC v Orlando City: Lions confidence rising ahead of road trip
Oscar Pareja says the confidence of his Orlando City side is on the rise ahead of their MLS trip to Nashville SC at Geodis Park.
The Lions have triumphed in their last three league matches, overcoming New England Revolution 3-1 in their most recent outing.
Orlando are seventh in the Eastern Conference standings, and head coach Pareja believes improvements are clear to see as encouragement grows within the camp.
"Very excited with the three points, very proud of the character of the team and the players that brought us back after an irregular first half," Pareja said, referring to the Revs victory.
"It seems like our confidence keeps rising, and finding the net is helping us to believe that this is the team who can keep that rhythm and get into the playoffs.
"A team with more chemistry, but at the same time, with more passion and more energy that allowed us to dominate the game and score our goals.
"This is the first time that the team won in New England and that means a lot of respect for the players to that achieve that."
Nashville are ninth in the same East table, though only sit ahead of CF Montreal on goal difference.
They have lost their last four matches against Inter Miami, Columbus Crew, Portland Timbers and D.C. United, however, and must improve at home if they are to end that run here.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Nashville SC – Hany Mukhtar
Hany Mukhtar has nine goal contributions (four goals, five assists) in eight regular-season matches against Orlando.
The Nashville forward has only recorded more goal contributions against one opponent in his MLS career – 12 versus Atlanta United.
Orlando City – Facundo Torres
Facundo Torres has recorded two goal contributions in each of his last two matches, including scoring a brace against New England on Saturday.
This is the fourth time Torres has registered multiple goal contributions in consecutive league matches, something no other Orlando player has managed more than once.
MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW
The Opta supercomputer predicted a Nashville victory as the most likely result, however a draw appears more probable in this clash.
Nashville had suffered just five defeats in their first 19 regular-season matches in 2024 but have now lost four straight matches in all competitions for the first time in club history.
Orlando have also won their last three meetings with Nashville, including a two-match sweep in last season's playoffs.
The Lions have won four of their last five matches (L1), too, after winning four of just 18 league games prior in 2024, including wins in their previous three in a row – only twice enjoying longer victorious streaks.
However, Nashville cannot be completely ignored considering they had gone unbeaten in their previous eight against Orlando in all competitions (W3 D5) before their three-game losing streak recently.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Nashville SC win – 43.7%
Draw – 26.8%
Orlando City win – 29.5%
'Legend' Southgate chose right time to call time on England, says former Three Lions team-mate
Gareth Southgate chose the right time to end his England tenure, though he will go down as a Three Lions "legend".
That is according to Southgate's former international team-mate Darren Anderton.
The Football Association (FA) confirmed on Tuesday that Southgate had decided to walk away from his role following the 2-1 Euro 2024 final defeat against Spain.
Southgate, who took charge in 2016, guided his national side to the World Cup semi-finals in 2018, as well as back-to-back Euros finals – becoming the first manager to lose two European Championship showpiece matches.
Anderton, a team-mate of Southgate with England at Euro 1996, believes the time was right.
"I think he's been getting a lot of stick. He's been involved since 2011 with the FA and now eight years as the manager," Anderton told Stats Perform.
"I feel like he's more negative within the job, the pressure of it, I think is what causes that. From where he took over, we're in an incredible place with fantastic players."
Southgate appeared to grow tired of the repeated negativity surrounding his side at Euro 2024.
Anderton understands some of the frustration, but thinks Southgate will go down as one of England's great managers.
"There's been a lot of negativity and I think rightly so, the standard and the style of football hasn't been what we would hope or what it was when Gareth first took over," Anderton added.
"I feel that he's done a great job and as he said, time for a change. People always say it's the hardest job in the world and he's had a right go at it and been very close to creating history, but he has great history.
"I mean, two finals and that's what he'll be remembered for. I mean at the moment I think everyone's very negative about it but I think you know as time goes on he'll be remembered as a legend."
England are also the first side to ever lose back-to-back Euros, though Anderton does not believe that unwanted feat will tarnish Southgate's legacy.
"I think it'll be a success," Anderton said when asked how Southgate will be remembered.
"At the moment we see it as a failure because I believe that we had the players and the capabilities to win the tournaments.
"The fact that we haven't done because you know possibly the manner of football that we've played is obviously really disappointing.
"When you watch that Spanish team play and win seven games on the bounce and play with that freedom, I think if we had played in the same way, I think that we would have seen better performances and probably had more chance of winning the tournament.
"That criticism is fair but also the expectation has obviously gone up because of what Gareth's teams have achieved. When that happens, you know, you go into the tournaments, you're favourites, that wasn't the case before he came.
"We were in a really awful position. Eight years ago, if we go into a tournament, and we think we're going to get to a final or a semi-final World Cup, no one cares how we play.
"I think now the expectation has changed based on what he has achieved, and people want more. And that's just the nature of the beast."
Southgate won 61 of his 102 matches in charge of the national team, with 14 of those victories coming at major tournaments.
Eddie Howe, Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino are said to be the early targets for the FA, though England Under-21s boss Lee Carsley could also be in the frame.
LA Galaxy v Colorado Rapids: Vanney demands more aggression after Dallas defeat
Greg Vanney hit out at a "purposeless" first-half display from his LA Galaxy side after their 2-0 loss to FC Dallas.
The Galaxy, who are third in the Western Conference, have now lost two of their last three games following that defeat to Dallas last time out.
They host the Colorado Rapids, who are one place and five points behind them in the West, next.
And Vanney wants a more aggressive performance.
"We were purposeless in the first half," Vanney said after the Dallas defeat, as reported by The Galactic Tribune.
"It's like we were going to win the game putting together ten thousand passes and going nowhere and that is what we said at half time.
"We were down 2-0 because we deserved to be down 2-0. We had three shots in the first half, all of them from 25 yards away.
"It just comes down to the overall aggressiveness of our group."
Wingers Gabriel Pec and Joseph Paintsil could not wield their usual influence on proceedings in the first half against Dallas, though Vanney believes the Galaxy stumbled on a solution after the break.
He added: "In the second half, we were able to get [Pec and Paintsil] better looks.
"One-on-one situations or getting them on the run so they're attacking aggressively, and then they have an impact on the game. We've got to do more of that. I'm not interested in being a possession team for the sake of passing the ball around.
"We need to use possession to put the opposition on their heels to score goals to bury them and make them feel like we're relentlessly coming at them, not so they can set up and be comfortable and turn us over and go the other way."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
LA Galaxy - Gabriel Pec
Pec has been involved in a goal in nine straight home matches (8 goals, 6 assists), equalling the longest single-season streak in Galaxy history (Landon Donovan in 2005, Robbie Keane in 2012).
Keane had a streak of 10 straight home matches with a goal contribution spanning the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
Colorado Rapids - Jonathan Lewis
Lewis has scored four goals in nine career matches against the Galaxy while not scoring more than twice against any other opponent.
All four of those goals were scored at Dignity Health Sports Park, including one in Colorado's 3-1 win at the Galaxy last May.
MATCH PREDICTION: LA GALAXY WIN
Colorado have lost only one of their last seven matches (W5 D1) conceding three goals in that lone defeat (at Los Angeles FC) and conceding a total of four goals in the other six games, not allowing more than one in any of them.
The Galaxy have won seven of their last nine home matches (D1 L1) with the only loss in that time coming at the Rose Bowl against LAFC. LA have not lost at Dignity Health Sports Park since a 4-1 defeat to Dallas last October, avoiding defeat in 10 straight matches in Carson (W7 D3) since.
Colorado, however, have won seven of their last 11 matches against the Galaxy (D3 L1) dating back to 2018. The Rapids had won six of their previous 24 meetings with the Galaxy in all competitions dating back to April 2009.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
LA Galaxy - 53.7%
Colorado Rapids - 22.6%
Draw - 23.8%
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
