Los Angeles FC’s record-setting season came to an early end on Tuesday night, as the Seattle Sounders spoiled LAFC’s bid to add an MLS Cup title to its Supporters’ Shield.
LAFC’s league-record points total did nothing for it on Tuesday, as the Sounders frustrated and neutralized the highest-scoring attack in MLS history to secure a trip to the MLS Cup final for the third time in four seasons.
It didn’t take long for questions to be raised about how to put LAFC’s season in perspective. LAFC dominated the league in a way we hadn’t seen MLS dominated before, scoring more goals and posting a higher goal differential than any team in league history. Carlos Vela was the runaway pick for MLS MVP during the record season, shattering the goal record, and contributing to more total goals than anyone in the league’s history.
That didn’t seem to matter much on Tuesday though, as the final note on LAFC’s incredible season was a lackluster loss, while Vela’s outstanding 2019 was capped by his quiet performance in the match that cost his team the title.
The loss to Seattle doesn’t change LAFC’s regular-season accomplishments, or the reality that Bob Bradley’s team set a new standard for both consistency and attacking quality, which is why there are still some who believe LAFC still has a claim to the title of ‘Best MLS Team ever’, even after losing on Tuesday.
What do you think? Do you believe LAFC still should be considered the best MLS team of all time, or does its playoff failure eliminate it from the discussion?
Cast your vote, and share your thoughts below:
[polldaddy poll=10446451]
This photo is everything. great pic / pick!
I voted that you need MLS Cup, but I don’t think it is that cut and dry.
What about a Salt Lake team in 2009, finished 8th, won the Cup?
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What about right after…..when they went on to play some of the best soccer MLS has seen and had won MLS Cup the year before.
Silly result from this vote. Soccer is a low scoring game and in such games a single game is meaningless. LAFC scored 1.4 more goals per game across the season than their opponents, over twice that of the nearest competitor (NYFC).
Toronto or Seattle will win the MLS cup, to claim those teams are in any way superior to LAFC is hust wrong.
The only team close to LAFC was 2017 Toronto who won Supporters Shield, MLS Cup and Canadian Cup and finished 2nd in the Champions League. Still I 2019 LAFC is clearly better than that team.
Okay so you bring up scoring average per game over the course of the season, but soccer is also about defending and getting a result when needed, not scoring averages over some time. What did that scoring average get LAFC when it mattered?
The league is evolving so fast. Toronto was named best ever, people went on and on about it back then, then Atlanta, now LAFC.
I am not saying any of those were wrong, but LAFC will get passed too and it will be the measuring of the year that matter and MLS Cup being the biggest part of that.
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Seattle took it to them. It wasn’t the Sounders somehow pulling out a victory.
yeah this is my feeling too, not some statline that doesn’t help a team get a result when things aren’t happening as they usually do