LAFC puts on a show for Olivier Giroud from afar – Daily News

LAFC’s Cristian Olivera (front) and FC Dallas’ Ema Twumasi battle for the ball during the first half at BMO Stadium on June 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

During two friendly matches against Luxembourg in Europe, Maxime Chanot’s path crossed that of his future teammate at Los Angeles Football Club, the French striker Olivier Giroud.

A day before their meeting on June 5, the attacker and the centre-back duel in the final ten minutes of Giroud’s team’s 3-0 victory in north-eastern France, near the city of Metz.

“He follows all of our results, so he knows exactly where we stand,” said Chanot, who brought depth and stability to LAFC’s center back corps when he was hired in March. “Honestly, I was very surprised because he probably already knew every player on the roster and every result we had achieved in the last few weeks. We joked about it.”

Since Giroud’s official signing on May 14, LAFC’s opponents have been the butt of jokes.

Head coach Steve Cherundolo expressed hope that the long-rumored signing of the legendary number 9 would have a motivating effect on his team.

Whether this was actually the case or not, the prospect from across the pond must have been tempting for the World Cup-winning striker.

LAFC (10-4-3, 33 points) started a club-best eight-game winning streak in all competitions that included 644 consecutive scoreless minutes, surpassing last year’s record by two and a half games.

A 3-1 victory on Saturday in sweltering Orlando, Florida, was made possible by effort, fighting spirit and even more impressive finishing from Denis Bouanga and Mateusz Bogusz, who have posed a dangerous threat all over the pitch over the past month and a half.

A blessing in disguise, such as a missed penalty that would have given Orlando an early advantage, is another sign that the team is in top form.

“When you win one game after another, you gain confidence. We know that in moments like that, you have to keep going,” said LAFC defender Ryan Hollingshead. “You have to keep going. You can’t sit back and think that everything will happen by itself.”

LAFC tried to defend with discipline and challenge a struggling team to beat them in Orlando, and they finally did so in the 69th minute thanks to some outstanding combination play in the box from the hosts.

For a team that has limited opponents to the longest average shot distance in MLS (19.7 yards), it was a rare instance of them conceding anything from close range. That it took such a goal to finally beat Giroud’s good friend Hugo Lloris shows that “it costs a lot to score against us right now,” Cherundolo said, “and we need to keep that up for at least Wednesday before we can go back to LA and recover.”

The back-to-back, multi-city away tour following the two-week FIFA break, during which Chanot was among a handful of LAFC players called up to the national team, comes before eight of LAFC’s next 10 games in the LA area (including the July 4 showdown against the Galaxy at the Rose Bowl).