Los Angeles Times - 25.08.2019

LATIMES.COM/SPORTS S SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2019D9

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VS

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Tommy Lasorda

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PRESENTEDBY

vs vs vs

SOCCER

‘Carlos is Carlos.

Carlos is special.

Carlos is a

difference-maker.’

— Marc dos Santos,

Vancouver Whitecaps coach

and former LAFC assistant

‘He’s effective. He

scores goals, he does

assists and I think he’s

at the top of his game

now. He’s doing good

and he’s important to

his team and for MLS.

He’s very important.’

— Zlatan Ibrahimovic,

Galaxy captain

‘For me, he’s one of

the league’s best and if

he continues with that

same form, I believe

he will set a new

record and I have no

problem with that.

Obviously, it will hurt

a little bit having to

start that record again,

but he deserves it.’

— Josef Martinez,

Atlanta United forward whose

MLS single-season record of 31

goals is being challenged by Vela

‘He has had an

outstanding season, is

an outstanding player

and teammate, and

plays on an

outstanding team.

They complement

each other, and that is

why they have been

successful.’

— Bruce Arena,

five-time

MLS Cup-winning coach

‘He’s realized that it’s

not just going to be

good enough for him

to be content being

one of the best players

in the league, but he

challenged himself

from the beginning of

the year. He wants to

be the MVP of the

league. He wants to be

the leader of his team.

Those are the type of

comments you want

from your star player.’

— Walker Zimmerman,

LAFC defender

WHAT THEY’RE

SAYING ABOUT

CARLOS VELA

The league Vela joined

two years ago has long been

a halfway house for aging

European players transi-

tioning into retirement. Re-

cently, it’s also become a

launching pad for young

South Americans just start-

ing their careers.

But you could count the

number of fit, in-their-prime

international stars who have

come to the league on one

hand and still have a couple

of fingers left over. So when

Vela left Spain’s Real So-

ciedad, at 28, to become the

initial signing of a fledgling

MLS franchise, the first

question was why? “To be

happy,” he answered Friday,

hiding in a quiet, shady walk-

way outside LAFC’s noisy

weight room.

“That’s the only reason I

made the decision to come

to L.A. It’s not only about

football; it’s more about life.

When you are a player, some-

times, you forget you are a

person, you are a father, you

are a husband.

“Sometimes, you have to

stop your life or your career

and say, ‘What is the best for

my family, for me?’ When I

saw all the scenarios that

were possible, I said, ‘This is

the best one. I want to be in

that city.’ ”

Twenty-six games into

his second season, Vela has

made a lot of other people at

LAFC happy too. With a

league-leading 26 goals and

15 assists, he has had a hand

in 41 goals, making him the

most prolific offensive

threat in MLS history.

Heading into the week-

end, there were 12 teams in

MLS that didn’t have 41

goals, including the cross-

town rival Galaxy, LAFC’s

opponent Sunday at Banc of

California Stadium. Vela is

on pace to shatter Josef Mar-

tinez’s year-old record of 31

goals as well as becoming

the first player in MLS his-

tory to finish a season with

at least 20 goals and 20 as-

sists. And some of those

have been spectacular, such

as his second goal in last

Wednesday’s game when he

dribbled through and

around more than half the

San Jose team to score.

“I can’t describe a goal

like that,” teammate Josh

Perez said. “Why not take on

the whole team and score by

yourself?”

Alexi Lalas, a Fox Sports

analyst and former MLS

player and executive who

has been around the league

since its inception, said Ve-

la’s season defies descrip-

tion.

“We’re seeing a virtuoso

performance,” he said. “To

be able to consistently im-

pact the game even when ev-

eryone is targeting him or

expecting him to do it is

amazing.”

Happiness alone can’t

account for all of that

though. Which is where

LAFC coach Bob Bradley

comes in. An MLS Cup-win-

ner in his first season as a

manager in 1998, Bradley

went on to guide the U.S.

and Egyptian national

teams as well as club teams

in Norway, France and the

English Premier League be-

fore returning to MLS with

LAFC in summer 2017. And a

week after landing its coach,

LAFC announced the sign-

ing of Vela, the player Brad-

ley and general manager

John Thorrington built their

team around.

“I don’t think we can

overstate the impact Bob

has had on him,” said Lan-

don Donovan, whom the

MLS MVP award is named

after. “He has been motivat-

ed by Bob and the atmos-

phere/environment sur-

rounding LAFC, and he is

thriving because of it.”

Bradley began by push-

ing his captain, for whom

success had often come easy.

In his first international

competition, Vela carried

Mexico to a U-17 World Cup

title, the country’s first ma-

jor international prize, bag-

ging the winning goal in the

final to lead the tournament

in scoring. He could be bril-

liant one moment and com-

placent the next, so Bradley

refused to let him relax,

showing him video of Lionel

Messi and publicly compari-

ng him to the Barcelona

standout.

“Part of what we want to

have happen here is that we

want to find ways to make

guys better,” he said. “We

want to challenge guys to

open up their minds to how

they play the game and to

get to higher levels and to be

more consistent. My point to

Carlos was just, when you

come to MLS, now you’ve got

to set the bar that high.

“I’ve heard him say that

when he was in La Liga and

it’s Cristiano [Ronaldo] and

Messi and other guys, it’s

hard for him to think, ‘I want

to be the best guy in the

league.’ But when he got

here, I wanted him to think,

‘Look, now’s your chance.’ ”

Vela took it. After scoring

a goal and assisting on two

others in LAFC’s second

game this season, he said at

a postgame news confer-

ence, “I’m working to be the

MVP of the league.” And he

hasn’t let up, leading the

league not only in goals but

in shots (128) and shots on

goal (57) while ranking sec-

ond in assists. He hasn’t

gone multiple games with-

out a goal this season.

And that’s just what he

does on the field.

“A lot of his impact hap-

pens in the locker room,”

LAFC goalkeeper Tyler

Miller said. “He’s honestly

one of the best leaders I’ve

had because of the way that

he carries himself. He knows

how to incorporate every-

body and make everyone feel

welcome as part of this

team, which is important.”

Following Vela’s lead,

LAFC — a league-best 19-3-4

— is on track to break single-

season records for wins (24),

points (71), goals (85) and

goal differential (plus-41),

among other things. If nei-

ther Vela nor the team break

stride over the final eight

games, it would be the great-

est regular season — individ-

ually and collectively — in

MLS history.

But it may not mean

much if they don’t dominate

the playoffs too. In most of

the world’s top soccer

leagues, the end of the

schedule means the end of

the season, with the team at

the top of the standings de-

clared the winner. In MLS,

the league champion is de-

termined in a 14-team post-

season tournament, in

which luck is almost as im-

portant as talent. Last year,

the New York Red Bulls

broke the league record for

points in a season but were

eliminated from the playoffs

in the conference finals, be-

coming the 13th team in 16

seasons to post the best

regular-season record and

not win the MLS Cup.

A similar postseason

stumble for Vela and LAFC

would take a lot of the shine

off whatever records they

set.

“It’s all about MLS Cup.

Don’t let anyone tell you it

isn’t,” Lalas said. “Fair or

not, given the dominance of

him and the team through

the regular season, I think

not winning MLS Cup would

diminish the achievement.”

Donovan, who won a

record six MLS Cups,

agreed.

“In the end, winning a

championship is the best

way to cement his legacy,” he

said.

If Vela, 30, thinks about

his place in MLS history, he

rarely mentions it, prefer-

ring to talk about team ac-

complishments. He’s not

even sure this is his best sea-

son.

“I don’t know,” said Vela,

who had 42 goals and 28 as-

sists in his first three sea-

sons at Sociedad. “It’s differ-

ent countries, different

leagues, different levels.

“But, for sure, I can say

I’m enjoying it more ... I’m

really happy about what I’m

doing and what the team is

doing.” There’s that word

again. Happy. Galaxy mid-

fielder Jonathan dos Santos,

a teammate on Mexico’s

World Cup team last sum-

mer and a neighbor of Vela’s

in West Hollywood, said it’s

an honest description of

someone who has found a

home after playing for seven

teams in seven cities and

three countries since 2012.

“I’ve talked to him about

it several times, and he’s

very happy to be here. He

likes the city,” Dos Santos

said in Spanish. “He’s a

great friend of mine and I

love him. We know what he

can do. He has nothing to

prove.”

Aside from his MLS sala-

ry of $6.3 million, Vela has

shown little interest in cash-

ing in on his celebrity. As a

charismatic, bilingual Mexi-

can soccer star in Los Ange-

les, Vela could be a ubiqui-

tous and well-paid product

pitchman. But he’s turned

down more sponsorship of-

fers than he’s scored goals,

convinced that money

doesn’t buy what he wants.

“When you are a player,

sometimes you are more

worried about ‘Oh, let’s get

money. Let’s be everywhere.

I want to feel important. I

want to feel famous.’ That

isn’t my case,” said Vela, who

speaks to reporters only

grudgingly. The one-on-one

interview for this story,

months in the planning,

lasted just 8^1 ⁄ 2 minutes.

“I prefer to have my

space, to have time for my

family.” That, he says, brings

him as much happiness as

anything that happens on

the field. And when the soc-

cer part becomes more

chore than cheer, “For sure, I

will go to the club and say,

‘Look, I have to finish my ca-

reer because I’m not enjoy-

ing it,’ ” he said. “So that’s

the key to my success.”

He’s not there yet but

says he’s much closer to the

end of his career than the

start.

“This work,” he said, “is

short.”

Can he get better before

he calls it quits? Dos Santos,

the Galaxy midfielder whose

job will be to slow Vela on

Sunday, shrugged and

smiled at the question.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“Sincerely, he’s at a very su-

perior level, surpassing

everybody. Hopefully, after

climbing to that level, he will

be or too tired for the game.”

LAFC’s Vela assaults record books

[Vela,from D1]

LAFC FORWARDCarlos Vela, going airborne after getting tripped by FC Dallas

defender Bressan, has scored 26 goals and assisted on 15 others this season.

Ed RuvalcabaAssociated Press

WINS

24 D.C. United, 1998

Galaxy, 1998

23 D.C. United, 1999

22 New York Red Bulls, 2018

21 D.C. United, 1997

Kansas City Wizards, 1997

Atlanta United, 2018

20 Tampa Bay Mutiny, 1998

Chicago Fire, 1998

Colorado Rapids, 1999

Galaxy, 1999

Seattle Sounders, 2014

Toronto FC, 2017

19 LAFC, 2019

POINTS

71 New York Red Bulls, 2018

69 Toronto FC, 2017

Atlanta United, 2018

68 Galaxy, 1998

67 Galaxy, 2011

66 S.J. Earthquakes, 2012

64 S.J. Earthquakes, 2005

Seattle Sounders, 2014

63 Seattle Sounders, 2011

Sporting Kansas City, 2012

61 LAFC, 2019

GOALS

31 Josef Martinez

Atlanta United, 2018

27 Roy Lassiter

Tampa Bay Mutiny, 1996

Chris Wondolowski

S.J. Earthquakes, 2012

Bradley Wright-Phillips

New York Red Bulls, 2014

26 Stern John

Columbus Crew, 1998

Mamadou Diallo

Tampa Bay Mutiny, 2000

Carlos Vela

LAFC, 2019

GOALS/ASSISTS

41 Carlos Vela

LAFC, 2019

38 Sebastian Giovinco

Toronto FC, 2015

37 Josef Martinez

Atlanta United, 2018

34 Chris Wondolowski

S.J. Earthquakes, 2012

33 Jason Kreis

Dallas Burn, 1999

Robbie Keane

Galaxy, 2014

ON TARGET

With eight games remaining for LAFC in the MLS regular season, the club

and MVP candidate Carlos Vela could leave a historic mark on the league’s

record book: