LAFC Learns Not to Mess with the Zlatan
Bob Bradley may be too safe a choice for international football, but he knows how to build contenders quickly in Major League Soccer.
Dude whipped the first-year Los Angeles Football Club into respectability last season, and now he's got them holding a comfortable lead in the Western Divison.
Bradley's also got the most prolific scorer in the MLS, none other than Carlos Vela.
Dude's been on a tear from the franchise's first match onward and shows no signs of slowing down:
Carlos Vela of #LAFC has scored his league-leading 20th goal of the season. He is the fourth player in #MLS history to record at least 20 goals and 10 assists in the same season (now also with 12 assists for the year, tied for the league lead).#LAvLAFC
— MLS Communications (@MLS_PR) July 20, 2019
However, to date, there are a couple of issues:
- LAFC has yet to defeat (0-2-2) their natural rival, the LA Galaxy; and
- Flamboyant Swede Zlatan Ibrahimović says he's better than Vela and then proceeds to make a compelling case.
Like in the latest edition of their cleverly-named El Tráfico, where the Zlatan went into spectacular mode and simply took over. Dude racked up a hat trick in his side's 3-2 victory:
Still stinging from it all, Vela retreated into a parsing exercise:
Vela addresses the Zlatan comparisons.
— Fut Mex Nation (@FutMexNation) July 20, 2019
“Look, to compare me to Zlatan overall is an insult to him. But right now, in terms of stats and regardless of age. I’m better than Zlatan.” #LAvLAFC #MLS #ElTrafico pic.twitter.com/fyc9aisKNP
To which Zlatan would say if he felt it even needed to be verbalized:
'Nuff said.
Bottom line in terms of pure objectivity, though:
Dudes have got a spiffly little rivalry going for them out there. That was worth watching.
The rematch is Sun 25 Aug.