Gareth Bale’s LAFC Defeat Seattle Sounders, Signal Possible MLS Power Shift

The Seattle Sounders opened Friday night’s mammoth clash with LAFC as they have in so many vintage Rave Green road wins: absorb early pressure, then take the lead on the counter.

Using that formula, the Sounders have set the course of much of the last six years of MLS history. The next half-dozen years, however, may have more to do with how LAFC answered.

Well before star addition Gareth Bale’s home debut in the second half, the Black & Gold were relentless in the final 25 minutes of the first, pressing and dispossessing the most recent champions of the continent almost on command.

They seized a 2-1 lead by the break through Kwadwo Opoku and Carlos Vela. And they might’ve had two more by then without another Vela goal disallowed following video review and Stefan Frei’s other-worldly save of Cristian Arango.

“I’m most pleased with our reaction after we wend down 1-0,” LAFC manager Steve Cherundolo told FS1’s TV crew afterward. “The reaction after that was excellent. We stepped the tempo up a little bit. We asked the players before the game to play fast and play simple, and to play dangerously in a vertical fashion forward. And they did exactly that and scored two goals, and they could’ve scored another.”

If Cherundolo’s men can access that overdrive regularly with their new former Real Madrid and Tottenham star in the fold, it will quickly become nightmare fodder for the rest of MLS. And it may also mark the beginning of a new era in the league’s history.

It’s silly to definitively claim any game in the 34-match season as a lone decisive turning point, especially when the true kings of MLS are crowned in the postseason that follows the league campaign.

But on Friday night in a city not far from the San Andreas Fault, you sensed the plates shifting.

Yes, we’ve seen stars like Bale and fellow new LAFC arrival Giorgio Chielini come to MLS before at least a dozen times. What we haven’t seen is those stars arrive at a club already humming to near-inevitable weekly successes to the point Bale’s cameo off the bench felt almost — dare we say it? — insignificant.

Yes, we’ve seen even championship-level teams look ordinary during their MLS travels, which are statistically some of the hardest of any league in the world. What we haven’t seen is this prideful Seattle Sounders team fail to do so much as put a shot on target in a national TV game where they almost always seem to go about making statements. (Seattle took the early lead through an own goal.)

In fairness to the visitors, the Sounders had some better spells after halftime. And they continue to be without arguably the two most important players in their Concacaf Champions League triumph earlier this year.

Striker Raul Ruidiaz has appeared in less than half of Seattle’s league matches because of a nagging hamstring injury, but is nearing another return. Holding midfielder Joao Paulo tore his ACL in Leg 2 of the CCL final against Pumas UNAM and is likely done for the year.

Both are the mold of player that have helped teams win MLS Cup of late: South American imports who are pricey by league standards, but certainly cheaper than most aging European stars, and who arrive in or before the prime of their careers.

Those kinds of signings — plus a core of seasoned MLS veterans and some cheap quality signed from the academy — have almost universally bested the Zlatan Ibrahimovics, Kakas and Wayne Rooneys playing for imperfect rosters.

You might argue about David Beckham and Robbie Keane’s LA Galaxy from the early part of the last decade. But that was probably two MLS eras ago now, before the proliferation of allocation money to supplement Designated Player signings.

What LAFC now are doing, however, is fusing star power with a roster built in the Seattle Sounders or New York City FC image and earning results as such. That was true even before Bale’s arrival, with Vela occupying lofty terrain in the North American star hierarchy. It’s even more notable now that a true global icon has joined LAFC’s ranks.

Cherundolo’s men won four of their last six prior to the transfer window opened allowing Bale and Chielini to officially join the squad. They’ve won four in a row since that date in early July. And Friday night’s own-goal and a penalty conceded to Nashville are all that is keeping the Black & Gold from a streak of three consecutive clean sheets.

If this continues, it may usher in a major leap forward into how title-winning MLS squads. And after Friday’s ultimately comfortable win, Bale said there’s already a vibe of maturity around the Banc of California Stadium.

“The club is an ambitious club,” he told FS1 postgame while looking around the stadium. “To have this fanbase after four-and-a-half, five years, it takes 10s, even 100s of years to make this atmosphere (elsewhere.) It’s just an exciting project. And one that I wanted to be a part of.”