103 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Los Angeles Football Club lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Los Angeles Football Club will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Los Angeles Football Club know it.
138 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Los Angeles Football Club lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Los Angeles Football Club will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Edwin Cerrillo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwin Cerrillo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
CJ Fodrey was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The goal that put Austin FC ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Los Angeles Football Club equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Up for the corner, and João Assunção delivers — 7.49
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. João Assunção scored, was marked 7.49, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Artem Smolyakov and Los Angeles Football Club agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Los Angeles Football Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Donavan Phillip is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. DeAndre Moore knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Edwin Cerrillo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Los Angeles Football Club, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Los Angeles Football Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Donavan Phillip is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against LA Galaxy? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Los Angeles Football Club may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Donavan Phillip was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Patrick Hateboer and Los Angeles Football Club agree another 3 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwin Cerrillo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
CJ Fodrey was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.62, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 18 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Seattle Sounders defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Ezequiel Vidal González was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwin Cerrillo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
93 minutes played. Ezequiel Vidal González found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Austin FC went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.08 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Edwin Cerrillo was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” João Assunção and Los Angeles Football Club agree another 2 years.
Marked 8.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Los Angeles Football Club.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Hateboer is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 19, and nobody at Los Angeles Football Club signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Los Angeles Football Club have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Los Angeles Football Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadEdwin Cerrillo falls out with a teammate over standards
There were 87 minutes on the clock and St. Louis CITY SC had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Los Angeles Football Club did not stop to explain themselves.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.98 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Ezequiel Vidal González was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwin Cerrillo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The words a physio says slowly. 79 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Columbus Crew moved on, Carlos Salcedo reports back to Los Angeles Football Club, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Los Angeles Football Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 93 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
DC United go through and Los Angeles Football Club go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Los Angeles Football Club has to find a result from somewhere.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Los Angeles Football Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.68, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The words a physio says slowly. 100 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Ezequiel Vidal González was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwin Cerrillo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The name of Carlos Salcedo has come up in conversations Los Angeles Football Club were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.