LOS ANGELES — A pair of box fans propped up on chairs did not help much, and it was hard to argue otherwise.
Two days before the Los Angeles Football Club visited Houston for a regular-season rematch of last weekend’s 2-0 loss at BMO Stadium, an excessive heat warning with high temperatures north of 100 degrees made the area on the westside of the performance center, where players and coaches address the media, particularly stifling.
Per usual following practice at the club’s training grounds on the Cal State L.A. campus, lunch was prepared on an outdoor grill a few feet from where Coach Steve Cherundolo sat, turning the awning that mercifully blocked the direct sun into a greenhouse tarp that added a few mouth-watering degrees.
“I think the fans are counterproductive,” Cherundolo said unprompted.
Jokingly told that they were there to give Cherundolo a sense of the day’s menu, the coach fairly asked, “Why smell when you can taste? Just go in there and take a bite.”
LAFC supporters have had similar ideas following four straight runner-up trips to cup finals, but they know 2024 will bring Cherundolo’s team at least one more sniff of a trophy later this month with the U.S. Open Cup.
In the meantime, league competition is top of mind for LAFC (14-6-5, 47 points), even if its Supporters’ Shield hopes were dimmed last weekend by an opponent that has gotten the better of them in regular-season play for two-plus seasons.
Cherundolo’s group can avoid dropping six points to Ben Olsen’s side for a second straight season with a result at Shell Energy Stadium on Saturday night.
Rare are summer trips to Houston when it’s notably hotter near the Pacific Ocean than the Gulf Coast, but because a July 7 meeting in Texas had to be rescheduled due to Hurricane Beryl, that’s the case now.
As L.A. sizzles, six contributors, including key pieces of the attack, are away on international duty: Dénis Bouanga (Gabon), Cristian Olivera (Uruguay), Mateusz Bogusz (Poland), David Martínez (Venezuela), Maxime Chanot (Luxembourg) and Omar Campos (Mexico U-22).
Besides Olivera, who competed in Copa America at the time, five of the half-dozen internationals were picked to start when LAFC visited Houston shortly after beating the Galaxy at the Rose Bowl.
Last weekend all six saw the field as a fatigued group, playing for the sixth time in 19 days, let Houston (11-8-7, 40 points) control the ball and break their lines.
Without a midweek match, the extra rest could offset the second-most international senior team call-ups from an MLS roster this window.
Assuming everyone returns healthy, LAFC will have a full complement of players for the crucial Sept. 15 “El Trafico” match with the Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park.
On Saturday, though, options will be limited except at midfield.
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“We need to strengthen the middle of the park a little bit and we will get our chances over there,” Timothy Tillman said.
Expecting young players to step up, Cherundolo also did not rule out lining up LAFC’s two most experienced outfield players together, strikers Olivier Giroud and Kei Kamara.
“We’ll field a team that will be good enough to win a game on the road in MLS,” Cherundolo said, “and having six players gone on international duty, to say that, is pretty good.”
LAFC AT HOUSTON DYNAMO
When: Saturday, 5:30 p.m. PT
Where: Shell Energy Stadium, Houston
TV/Radio: Apple TV+ – MLS Season Pass/710 AM, 980 AM