Central Georgia Sports ReportComment

Can the adopted team of Macon and Mercer do some “underdog” damage in the FIFA Club World Cup? LAFC thinks so

Central Georgia Sports ReportComment
Can the adopted team of Macon and Mercer do some “underdog” damage in the FIFA Club World Cup? LAFC thinks so

 By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

           The Los Angeles Football Club is pretty young, having started play in 2018.

          But it has been a successful youngster, winning the MLS Cup in 2022, also taking its second Supporters’ Shield that year.

          The Black and Gold Falcons are used to being a target.

Club World Cup schedule/results
Monday: 3 p.m.,TBS, LAFC vs. Chelsea, Atlanta
Friday:  6 p.m., LAFC vs. Esperance de Tunis, Nashville
June 24: 9 p.m., LAFC vs. Flamengo, Orlando

Club World Cup
Saturday, June 14
Al Ahly 0, Inter Miami 0
Sunday, June 15
Bayern Munich 10, Auckland City 0
PSG 4,  Atletico Madrid 0
Palmeiras 0, Porto 0
Botafogo vs. Seattle Sounders, 10 p.m., Lumen Field, Seattle
Monday
Chelsea vs. LAFC, 3 p.m., Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
Boca Juniors vs. Benfica, 6 p.m., Hard Rock Stadium, Miami Gardens
Flamengo vs. Esperance de Tunis, 9 p.m., Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia
Tuesday
Fluminense vs. Borussia Dortmund, 12 p.m., MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford
River Plate vs. Urawa Red Diamonds, 3 p.m., Lumen Field, Seattle
Ulsan HD vs. Mamelodi Sundowns, 6 p.m., Inter&Co Stadium, Orlando
Monterrey vs. Inter, 9 p.m., Rose Bowl, Pasadena

          Now, though, they’re an underdog, considered a middle-of-the-pack team in the expanded FIFA Club World Cup.

          The team that is calling Macon its home away from home for a week or so isn’t taking that approach. They’re already hungry.

          “I think that’s for sure the storyline that’s being set,” veteran Ryan Hollingshead said Sunday during a short media session at Mercer’s Betts Stadium. “I don’t think that’s how we feel internally. I don’t think we’re talking about being the underdog.”

          Midfielder Yaw Yeboah wants to keep the focus simple, but also represent.

          “Just to play our game against these top players,” he said. “Also (see) how the league is (doing), to compete against these top teams.”

          The young LAFC team takes on a legendary program at 3 p.m. (TBS) on Monday when it faces Chelsea FC out of London, which was founded in 1905, and is the defending Club World Club champion, beating Palmeira 2-1 in 2022.

          LAFC arrived in Macon Friday night and got in its first practice session at Mercer’s soccer stadium on Saturday. The facility is all but on lockdown, with a black privacy screening wrapping the entire complex, plus additional barrier fencing in the medical school parking lot adjacent to the field.

          Georgia weather made an appearance on Sunday.

          The team was to practice at 1 p.m. on Sunday, and meet local media beforehand for a short 15-minute window. Then it was pushed to noon.

          The team arrived a little after noon for practice amid typically frisky weather that quickly disrupted the schedule, thanks to lightning in the area, and the different allowances for outdoor events based on Mercer’s standards, the MLS, the team, and FIFA.

          In a span of a few minutes, the schedule changed multiple times, and the media session was pushed to the end of practice, just long enough for reporters to start heading for the parking lot.

          Just that quickly, plans changed again, and Hollingshead and Yeboah came to the side for a short interview session. No media observation – and filming – of practice followed.

          After practice, the team headed to Atlanta, which opens the Club World Cup with LAFC and Chelsea on Monday at 3 p.m. Inter Miami CF and FC Porto play at Mercedes-Benz on Thursday, with Manchester City and Al Ain FC on June 22.

          MBS hosts a knockout round match on June 29 and July 1, and then a quarterfinal on July 5.

          LAFC is in Group D, and plays ES Tunis on Friday in Nashville and then Flamengo on June 24 in Orlando.

          The Club World Cup has undergone a major expansion since Chelsea won it, and bears much more of a resemblance to next year’s World Cup, during which CWC teammates will be opponents.

          “We’ve never tested ourselves in this way,” Hollingshead said. “We’ve never played against these sorts of clubs, and in this kind of tournament.

          “It’s a level playing ground. Everything’s up for grabs.”

          Hollingshead is a defender who is seventh in minutes played, and has started 10 MLS games. Midfielder Yeboah is working his way into more minutes.

          Denis Bouanga, of France, leads LAFC with eight goals and shares the team lead with Mark Delgado with five assists.

          Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris brings plenty of world experience to the team, with 70 UEFA Champions League matches as well as World Cups in 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022 with France.

          If the Black and Gold Falcons finish in the top two – and early analysis indicate that’s a possibility – they’ll advance to the Knockout Round while still working in Macon.

          The city is unfamiliar to a team that has nine players from California, and one from Maryland and one from New York.

          But so far, so good in a new temporary home.

          “The city has been great to us,” Hollingshead said. “The facilities here, this field amazing. Grateful to be here.”