Los Angeles FC bounced back from Friday’s loss to Colorado in the only way it knows how.
Christian Ramirez, Diego Rossi, Carlos Vela, Rodolfo Zelaya and Mohamed El-Munir scored a goal each for the Supporters’ Shield leader in its 5-1 romp over struggling Sporting Kansas City in front of an announced crowd of 19,754 fans at Children’s Mercy Park.
Ramirez opened the scoring in the 28th minute by firing a free kick from just outside the box under a leaping wall and into the bottom-left part of the net past SKC goalkeeper Tim Melia.
Sporting KC pushed for an equalizer throughout the first half, but LAFC backup goalkeeper Pablo Sisniega came up with a few impressive denials.
Sisniega’s best save came five minutes before halftime, when he denied Krisztian Nemeth from point-blank range in the middle of the goal.
Rossi padded the lead for Bob Bradley’s side five minutes into the second half. The 21-year-old’s ninth goal of the season came on a rocket of a shot from the left wing that flew into the bottom-right part of the net.
In the 63rd minute, Vela added to his impressive scoring haul by beating Melia with a left-footed curler from just inside the box. In the buildup to his league-leading 17th goal, Vela remained calm on the ball and kept defender Matt Besler at bay before firing past Melia.
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Sporting KC appeared to have something positive to build on in the 85th minute, when Yohan Croizet finished off an assist from Ilie Sanchez, but that sense of hope was washed away fast by the top team in Major League Soccer.
Zelaya and El-Munir added goals in the final minutes of the contest to inflate the scoreline and become the first MLS team to reach 40 points this season.
Next up for LAFC is a home contest with Vancouver on Saturday, while Sporting KC is back on the field on Saturday at home against Chicago.