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[SPOTV News reporter Shin In-seop] Lately, every coach who’s worked with Son Heung-min has pointed to player quality—not tactics—as the primary reason for defeats. That assessment has come from the likes of Jürgen Klinsmann and, most recently, LAFC head coach Mark Dos Santos.
On April 20 (KST), LAFC were beaten 4-1 by the San Jose Earthquakes in Round 8 of the 2026 Major League Soccer season at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. The loss was LAFC’s second straight, dropping them to third in the table at 5-1-2 (16 points).
The first half ended 0-0, but LAFC fell apart after the break. Bawda opened the scoring in the 53rd minute, Werner made it 2-0 three minutes later, and in the 58th minute Porteus turned the ball into his own net. LAFC pulled one back, but Bawda struck again in the 80th minute to seal a 4-1 defeat.
There were several reasons for the loss. Dos Santos named the same starting XI he’d used just five days earlier on the trip to Mexico City. The straight-line distance from Los Angeles to Estadio Azteca is roughly 2,500 km, and a direct flight takes around 3 hours 40 minutes to 4 hours 45 minutes—a demanding journey. On top of that, Estadio Azteca sits at about 2,200 meters above sea level, which can significantly increase fatigue compared with a typical venue.
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Despite those factors, Dos Santos stuck with the same 11 players. As the second half unfolded, focus and fitness waned, mistakes crept in, and reactions slowed. Dos Santos said he had no effective fix to pull the team out of that slide, and San Jose capitalized—scoring three times in a five- to six-minute span between the 53rd and 58th minutes.
After the match, Dos Santos placed the blame on his players rather than on tactics. “I expected a tough match. There’s a reason they’ve accumulated points and sit ahead of us,” he said. “Yes, we had the Mexico trip and played at high altitude, and that made it a very difficult match. There was a heavy mental and physical burden.”
He added: “I want us to focus on what we did wrong. We started very poorly. On second balls and first balls, the opponent reacted first, and we made too many passing errors. We didn’t make penetrating runs behind the defense and failed to create dangerous chances. The whole team looked static. I think most of their goals came from transitions after we lost possession. It wasn’t good. I’ve praised this team many times, but today was clearly not good, and we must learn from it. Using fatigue as an excuse would be just that—an excuse. We need to analyze why this happened and improve.”
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Dos Santos said he raised the issues at halftime and tried to address them. “In my view, this was our worst defensive performance of the season. Our shape collapsed under pressure and spacing between players was poor. I talked about that at halftime, and if the whole team can’t move together, it’s better to drop the line and stay compact,” he said.
He closed the press conference by stressing timing and movement. “When timing lagged, there may have been physical reasons, but too often one player stepped out and another followed late. Today, San Jose looked fresher; they moved continuously with quick one-two passes. We couldn’t match that movement, and we missed opportunities when they played around us. In every aspect, we were a step late. It was our sloppiest game of the season.”
▲ © Yonhap News/AFP
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