Playing five of its next six matches away from home, the Los Angeles Football Club is poised to find out what it’s made of during the final third of the MLS regular season.
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Closing a busy month on Saturday at D.C. United, LAFC has dropped 10 points in four league games, and, despite its best effort, fell short of reaching the Leagues Cup knockout stage.
“This next stretch of six games is going to tell us a lot about who we are as a team and where we’re going to finish in the table,” center back Aaron Long said after last weekend’s 1-1 draw with Portland at BMO Stadium, good for their lone point through three games in eight days.
The toll of pushing a thin roster to its limits due to injuries, coupled with a quiet inbound summer transfer window closing Wednesday, has been obvious ahead of LAFC’s eighth game in August.
Clinging to third place in the Western Conference and five points behind Vancouver for the top spot, head coach Marc Dos Santos described the moment as “challenging.” When he spoke with the media on Thursday prior to flying across the country for LAFC’s second-ever date at Audi Field in Washington D.C., Dos Santos had just come from meeting with the club’s performance staff.
The update wasn’t great.
Prior to Portland, backup goalkeeper Thomas Hasal (arm), attacker David Martínez (leg), fullback Sergi Palencia (leg) and midfielder Igor Jesus (leg) were out. That remains true against D.C. United (5-7-9, 24 points), which stands 11th in the Eastern Conference and is 0-2-1 all-time against LAFC (10-7-5, 35 points).
This week, the injury list also includes midfielder Timothy Tillman, whose right hamstring was tight the first half of the Portland match, and winger Jacob Shaffelburg, who got dinged up training in recent days.
Dos Santos did not share the severity of Shaffelburg’s issue, but the news was not all bad.
Tillman’s injury seems less serious than feared and he should reintegrate next week.
Martínez was close to returning against D.C., but needed another week.
Long-term injuries to Jesus, a Brazilian U22 Initiative defensive midfielder, and Palencia, a 30-year-old Spanish fullback, appear to be turning a corner.
Jesus suffered a setback in his return from ACL surgery a few weeks ago. Now he is in the early stages of building up to return before the end of the year.
Out since mid-May, Palencia should participate in team exercises the first week of September.
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“Next week could be very encouraging with three or four guys back to training,” Dos Santos said.
Meanwhile, two of the three reinforcements LAFC acquired in the transfer window cannot help the team before onboarding is completed.
While improving his fitness in a preseason phase, attacker Armindo Sieb continues through the visa process.
LAFC on Tuesday announced Ecuadorian midfielder Sergio Vásquez as a U22 Initiative signing on a permanent transfer through the 2029-2030 season with a club option for one more year.
As Vásquez awaits his visa, he will train with the only club he has known, Orense SC.
“I think Sergio is going to arrive here much more ready fitness wise than Armindo,” Dos Santos said.
Unless Vásquez or Sieb suit up for a Sept. 9 midweek match against the New York Red Bulls, neither will have a chance to debut at BMO Stadium until Oct. 10.
By then, LAFC ought to have a better idea how it stacks up.
“You need to sometimes go away and get a big result,” Dos Santos said, thinking ahead to the MLS Cup playoffs. “This is a month for that. And at the same time, it’s also a month where you can get closer together as a team.”
Visiting the nation’s capital, the Black & Gold will reunite with forward Nathan Ordaz. The LAFC academy and homegrown product was traded to United in July for $2.375 million in cash. Ordaz has an assist in six appearances off the bench.
Led by Swiss head coach René Weiler with 13 games left, the hosts are a pair of points off their total from last season. One of 10 original MLS teams, D.C. is 3-4-3 at home inside the league and 0-2-2 against Western Conference teams in 2026. After losing its last two contests, D.C. United is 1-3-6 in MLS since mid-May.
Weiler said D.C. could face LAFC without his team’s leading scorer, Israeli Designated Player Tai Baribo, whose 12 goals double up the next best United player. Yellow card accumulation will keep Swiss fullback Silvan Hefit from making the 21st start for D.C. in his initial MLS season.
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LAFC (10-7-5, 35 points) at D.C. UNITED (5-7-9, 24 points)
When: Saturday, 4:30 p.m. PT
Where: Audi Field, Washington D.C.
TV/Radio: Apple TV/710 AM, 980 AM, 1230 AM