Gareth Bale And LAFC Win MLS Cup, Put New Premium On Role Players

Not every MLS club has the kind of quality-of-life perks that can convince a star of Gareth Bale’s caliber to play for less than $2.4 million in guaranteed annual compensation. And not every player of Bale’s stature would be content as a late-game weapon off the bench, even if — as we’re told here — that owed mostly to injury.

But when Bale hammered an astounding 128th-minute leveler past Andre Blake to send Satuday’s MLS Cup final to penalties — where LAFC triumphed following a 3-3 draw — he may have also ushered in a new era: The age of MLS role players.

Bale’s role as a sort of late-game, not-so-secret weapon made him just one of several LAFC players who had highly focused parts to play at times during their domestic double-winning season.

Heck, he wasn’t even the only key roleplayer Saturday. Back-up goalkeeper John McCarthy had to be called into action because of an injury to Maxime Crepeau, but his acumen at saving penalties is so exceptional he might have come on as a late-game sub anyway. He was used this way in previous U.S. Open Cup matches at his previous team — the Union.

Elsewhere on the pitch, former LAFC center back Mamadou Fall was a set piece aerial menace before leaving on a loan move to Villareal B. Ryan Hollingshead was originally intended to be LAFC’s offensive-minded right fullback, though injuries conspired to see him start 22 games at right back.

This approach isn’t exactly novel in team sports or even in soccer — although it is far easier in soccer recently in the wake of pandemic-era rules changes allowing up to five subs per team, per match. It is however, very rarely taken to the extent in MLS that LAFC were able to by bringing in stars like Bale and Giorgio Chielini on team-friendly deals. (LAFC’s 15 goals scored by substitute’s were the third-most in MLS history.)

The roster rules in MLS have for most of the league’s life made it difficult for teams to invest money with a focus on depth rather than top-end talent. But those restrictions have loosened slowly over the last decade, with the introduction of general and targeted allocation money to be used on roster spending, and more recently the creation of the league’s U22 initiative. And with the influx of some new money from the league’s new $2.5-billion, 10-year streaming deal with Apple, there’s reason to believe they may loosen even more in the near future.

While not every club can lure a Bale-like player on a below-market-value contract, those developments should lead to salaries being spread more evenly across 30-man rosters. And that in turn will lead to more sporting directors and managers to think not only about spending purposefully on 90-minute players, but only those who can fill a crucial role in shorter shifts.

There are already some signs of this occurring beyond LAFC. The crosstown rival LA Galaxy are a great example. Veteran midfielders Victor Vazquez and Sacha Kljestan inhabited the role of calming influences in the center of the park, though their 90-minute days are mostly behind them. Dejan Joveljic was arguably the best bench scorer in the league, and all the while Greg Vanney mostly resisted the temptation to start him alongside Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez.

Elsewhere, Felipe was chief agitator in reserve at Austin FC. Dom Dwyer had a bit of a career resurrection as a super sub striker for Atlanta United. Philadelphia’s Jack McGlynn and Cory Burke were starting-level attacking options off the bench.

Furthermore, at the most-recent IFAB meeting in June, the governing body of the laws of the game made using five substitutes during a match a permanent option for competitions around the world. Should MLS opt to keep five subs in its league games, it only stands to reason that teams will have more incentive to assemble a wider range of skillsets for managers to be able to deploy at the most opportune times.

Sure, the Black & Gold may be a special case. Everything in Los Angeles generally is when it comes to MLS. But they may also be a test case, one that passed its examination in stunning fashion when Bale scored in the dying moments on Saturday afternoon.