LAFC show "killer mentality" to lift US Open Cup trophy

Olivier Giroud is a World Cup and UEFA Champions League winner, a serial trophy collector with Serie A, Ligue 1 and Europa League titles on his résumé as well as a whopping four FA Cup triumphs during his time in London with Arsenal and Chelsea, to say nothing of his myriad individual honors.

Based on the raw emotion that took over him when he scored the first goal in LAFC’s tense 3-1 extra-time victory over Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday, he’ll proudly add the US Open Cup to that towering stack of achievements – a fourth major trophy in his new club’s six fleeting seasons of existence.

“A final is always special,” Giroud told reporters as he sat alongside his friend and countryman Hugo Lloris after this pulsating cup final at BMO Stadium. “As Hugo said, it is always difficult to win that kind of game, and it doesn't matter, to be honest with you, when you are a competitor – World Cup, I mean, it's different. But when you have to play a final, you just go for it, and that's what I like.

“Here the boys stick together. We were in a tough moment, not the best run, but we've done it all together. I'm really proud of the team and the lads,” added the French legend. “We are hungry, we know our potential, our qualities, and Hugo and myself, I think we are competitors, and we are here to bring our hunger to win trophies. Even if we're getting a bit old, we still have that energy to bring to the team.”

Momentum-builder

Championships never get old, and they hold a power to heal like nothing else. Especially when the sour taste of a lost cup final, August’s Leagues Cup setback at the Columbus Crew, lingered so painfully, fueling a 1W-3L-2D slump across all competitions in the ensuing month.

LAFC were not just out of form as they entered this Open Cup showdown – they were riding a brutal streak of big-game heartbreaks, including last year’s MLS Cup and Concacaf Champions Cup finals. That added a sense of vindication to this breakthrough, and a sense of elevated possibilities for their impending Audi MLS Cup Playoffs run.

“I thought it would be more relief, but it really is just joy. I think I'm at peace with both outcomes. As coaches, you do what you can during the week; you prepare the group. We felt very good about this match plan and the preparation and the trainings leading up into this game,” said LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo.

“So I am ecstatic for the players. They put in the hard work; they have to listen to me, I wouldn't say complain, but criticize a lot, in a way that hopefully they learn. And they did, and they are learning. This will only make us stronger down the stretch of the season. I'm convinced of that.”

Extra-time breakthrough

Sporting truly made LAFC work for this one, despite a yawning gap of 18 points and 18 places between these two sides in the overall MLS standings at present. Giroud’s 53rd-minute opener was a deserved reward for everything the Black & Gold had put into the match to that point. SKC answered almost immediately, Daniel Sallói feeding Erik Thommy for a rifled finish that would eventually lead to 30 more minutes of tenacity and tension on this starry Los Angeles night.

The Midwesterners were irate when Giroud’s goal stood, pointing to suspicions that Mateusz Bogusz had strayed offside in the buildup, as well as what they insisted was a foul on Thommy to create a turnover seconds before. They applied that frustration to good effect, it seems.

“I know it's offside. I know it's offside, but there's nothing I can do about it,” said SKC manager Peter Vermes. “With VAR and everything else, you shouldn’t miss that kind of stuff. You just shouldn't.

"We’ve suffered too much when it comes to that kind of thing, but I want to stay focused on the real part. I actually am very proud of our team. I really think the guys gave a great effort. I'm sad and disappointed for them because I think they deserved more in the game.”

Dogged, committed, buoyed by the shot-stopping of veteran goalkeeper Tim Melia – who had already claimed two Open Cup titles – the underdogs from Kansas City fought bravely. It took a gorgeously curled right-footed shot from substitute left back Omar Campos to break their resistance in the 102nd minute, the sort of cut-in finish his teammates and coaches didn’t know he could muster.

“Never!” exclaimed Ryan Hollingshead when asked if he’d ever seen Campos do that on the training ground before. “Even after he scored it, I'm screaming at him, like, your right foot? Tienes una derecha? And he's like, ‘It's so bad,’ but tonight was the first shot. So, man, it's a testament to the depth of our team, him coming on, scoring an unbelievable goal with his right.”

Spark found

Even that wasn’t enough to calm the nerves of the hosts and their supporters. It took a coup de grâce from their veteran striker Kei Kamara, an SKC icon who helped that club win the 2012 Open Cup and whose family remains based in the city, in the form of a flying header that yet again made a mockery of his 40 years of age.

Afterwards Kamara offered a passionate tribute to the Open Cup’s history and unifying power across the many levels of the US soccer pyramid. Why wouldn’t illustrious European stars want to have a taste of that?

“Hugo and the rest of the guys have played in the World Cups and won such big trophies, but they've never won the US Open Cup before, so now they can mark that down too,” the former Sierra Leone international said playfully. “Because I'm sure that's why they came to this part, to say they want to win more trophies and put that into their trophy records, because it's going to mean something. And for us right now, I think it's a good time.”

Everyone wearing black sounded convinced that this achievement can blow wind into LAFC’s sails for the big games ahead this autumn.

“We were saying going into the game just to give ourselves an opportunity to celebrate together,” said Hollingshead. “We had been in so many finals and so close on lifting a trophy and getting to spray some champagne.

“The group that we have, the locker room that we have, is unbelievable. The camaraderie that we have is something I haven't experienced before. And so we were just looking at each other thinking, 'What do have to do to get a chance to celebrate together?' I think you could see it today, everybody had a just killer mentality of making sure we won that game.”