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Take a closer look at every 2021 LAFC player and check back to watch video of all the goals they score throughout the MLS season.
2
Jordan Harvey
Number: 2
Position: Defender
Age: 37
Country: U.S.
Although he played a career-low 756 minutes last year, Harvey’s 315 MLS appearances rank 14th in league history and his 70 appearances in his three seasons at LAFC are the most by a defender.
3
Mohamed Traore
Number: 3
Position: Defender
Age: 18
Country: Senegal
He signed with LAFC in August 2020 and made his MLS debut in September, playing the first half of a 3-0 loss at Real Salt Lake.
4
Eddie Segura
Number: 4
Position: Defender
Age: 24
Country: Colombia
The versatile defender appeared in all 59 MLS games, including playoffs, since joining LAFC before the 2019 season. He started 58 of those. Segura entered 2021 with three regular-season goals despite putting just seven shots on target.
5
Latif Blessing
Number: 7
Position: Midfielder
Age: 24
Country: Ghana
Blessing’s 89 appearances, including playoffs, entering 2021 are the most in club history. He has played everywhere but in goal for LAFC while contributing 12 scores and 11 assists. He also drew a team-high 138 fouls the past two seasons.
2021 goals:
6
Francisco Ginella
Number: 8
Position: Midfielder
Age: 22
Country: Uruguay
Ginella appeared in all 23 MLS games, including playoffs, in his debut season, starting 14 of them. He registered his first two MLS assists in a 6-2 win over the Galaxy at the MLS Is Back tournament.
7
Diego Rossi
Number: 9
Position: Forward
Age: 23
Country: Uruguay
Rossi’s 14 goals in an abbreviated 2020 season made him the youngest Golden Boot winner in league history. His 82 starts are the most in club history and his 42 goals and 15 assists trail only Carlos Vela on the LAFC leaderboard.
2021 goals:
May 8 vs. L.A. Galaxy
May 23 Colorado
May 23 vs. Colorado
8
Carlos Vela
Number: 10
Position: Forward
Age: 32
Country: Mexico
The team captain, Vela broke the MLS single-season scoring record with 34 goals during an MVP season in 2019. But he started just four regular-season games last season after skipping the MLS Is Back tournament, then tearing the MCL in his left knee in August.
2021 goals:
June 23 vs. FC Dallas
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José Cifuentes
Number: 11
Position: Midfielder
Age: 22
Country: Ecuador
The Ecuadoran international started 13 times in his MLS debut season. Best suited to playing as a defensive midfielder, he scored a goal and assisted on two others in 2020.
2021 goals:
April 17 vs. Austin FC
10
Diego Palacios
Number: 12
Position: Defender
Age: 21
Country: Ecuador
Another Ecuadoran international, Palacios joined LAFC from Willem II of the Dutch Eredivisie late in 2019. In 2020, he won, then lost, the starting job at left back before redeeming himself with three strong performances in December’s CONCACAF Champions League.
11
Corey Baird
Number: 13
Position: Forward
Age: 25
Country: U.S.
A former U.S. national team player and the 2018 MLS Rookie of the Year, Baird came to LAFC from Real Salt Lake in January in exchange for $500,000 in general allocation money. He can play anywhere along the front line and figures to absorb many of the minutes left unclaimed by Brian Rodríguez’s loan to Almería of the Spanish second division.
2021 goals:
April 17 vs. Austin FC
May 1 vs. Houston Dynamo
May 29 vs. NYCFC
12
Mark Anthony Kaye
Number: 14
Position: Midfielder
Age: 26
Country: Canada
A central midfielder and 2019 MLS all-star, Kaye has been an important piece of the LAFC attack since being rescued from the USL Championship before the 2018 season. The Canadian international’s 62 starts in three years is third in LAFC history, while his 15 assists are tied with Diego Rossi for second all-time.
13
Danny Musovski
Number: 16
Position: Forward
Age: 25
Country: U.S.
Musovski stepped up in Vela’s absence last season, finishing third on the team with five goals in 15 MLS appearances. Only Vela and Rossi have a better scoring rate than Musovski, who had a goal every 125 minutes.
14
Erik Dueñas
Number: 18
Position: Defender
Age: 16
Country: U.S.
One of three academy players to reach the first team last season. Dueñas, a Mexican youth international, made his LAFC debut in the second half of an October loss to Vancouver. That game came four days before Dueñas’ 16th birthday, making him the third youngest player in MLS history behind Freddy Adu and Alphonso Davies.
15
Bryce Duke
Number: 19
Position: Midfielder
Age: 20
Country: U.S.
Duke was signed out of Barcelona’s residency academy in Arizona and made his LAFC debut against León in the CONCACAF Champions League. He made 11 appearances in the regular season, starting twice.
16
Eduard Atuesta
Number: 20
Position: Defender
Age: 23
Country: Colombia
Arguments that Atuesta is the team’s most important player were strengthened last season when he missed five games to injury and LAFC lost four of them. A versatile defensive midfielder, Atuesta can play both ways, starting the attack for his team and stopping one from the opponent.
2021 goals:
April 24 vs. Seattle Sounders
17
Christian Torres
Number: 21
Position: Forward
Age: 16
Country: Mexico
A Mexican youth international from Fontana, Torres was promoted from the academy program alongside Dueñas and Tony Leone. Torres made the biggest impact of the three, scoring a goal in eight games after making his first-team debut off the bench in a road loss to Seattle. He started three times in MLS play, including LAFC’s lone playoff game.
18
Kwadwo Opoku
Number: 22
Position: Forward
Age: 19
Country: Ghana
Signed out of Ghana in August, Opoku, one of five teenagers to play for LAFC last season, made his debut in stoppage time of an October win over Seattle. His second-half goal was the decider in a 2-1 win over Cruz Azul in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League.
19
Pablo Sisniega
Number: 23
Position: Goalkeeper
Age: 25
Country: Mexico
Sisniega posted two shutouts in 15 MLS starts before going back to the bench for Champions League. He’ll open the season as the starter, though, after LAFC bought out the remainder of Kenneth Vermeer’s contract.
20
Cal Jennings
Number: 26
Position: Forward
Age: 23
Country: U.S.
Selected by FC Dallas in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft, Jennings scored nine goals in 14 games for Memphis 901 in the USL Championship last season. He signed with LAFC last month after the team traded a third-round pick in next year’s SuperDraft to Dallas for his rights.
21
Tristan Blackmon
Number: 27
Position: Defender
Age: 24
Country: U.S.
After an inconsistent regular season during which he was slowed by a hamstring injury while shuttling between center back and outside back, Blackmon moved to right back for the Champions League and was outstanding, earning his first national team call-up. He will likely compete with Kim Moon-hwan for minutes at outside back but could provide depth in the center as well.
22
Tony Leone
Number: 28
Position: Defender
Age: 16
Country: Mexico
A Mexican youth international from Long Beach, Leone was promoted to LAFC’s first team in July but didn’t appear in an MLS game in 2020.
23
Tomas Romero
Number: 30
Position: Goalkeeper
Age: 20
Country: El Salvador
The departure of Kenneth Vermeer means Romero, a Salvadoran youth international, will open the season as LAFC’s backup keeper, although the team will likely seek help at that position. Romero starred at Georgetown, where his stop of a penalty kick gave the Hoyas their first national team in soccer in 2019.
24
Marco Farfan
Number: 32
Position: Defender
Age: 22
Country: U.S.
Acquired from Portland in December for $300,000 in allocation money, the U.S. international provides experience and depth at outside back.
25
Kim Moon-hwan
Number: 33
Position: Defender
Age: 25
Country: South Korea
LAFC’s biggest offseason signee will compete with Tristian Blackmon for the starting job at right back when he returns from a preseason knee injury. The South Korean national team player will become the fifth Korean to play in MLS when he makes his debut.
2021 goals:
at Sporting Kansas City
26
Raheem Edwards
Number: 44
Position: Midfielder
Age: 25
Country: Canada
The Canadian international, selected in December’s re-entry draft, has played for four MLS teams and will provide veteran depth to LAFC’s front line. He made a career-high 21 appearances for Toronto in 2017 when the team won the league’s only treble.
27
Jesús David Murillo
Number: 94
Position: Defender
Age: 27
Country: Colombia
Murillo joined LAFC on loan in mid-October and made his MLS debut four days later. With Murillo in the center of the back line, LAFC allowed multiple goals just three times in his nine starts.
