LOS ANGELES — LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo recognized his goalkeeper’s effort. He knew Hugo Lloris’ heroics were the only thing keeping his team competitive, masking the fatigue it felt from playing three matches in the last six days.
At halftime, trailing by a goal, he willed them to find energy from Lloris’s brilliance, and rally behind it.
“Hugo kept us in the game,” Cherundolo told them in the locker room. “It’s up to us to make sure to capitalize on that and make sure we reward him for those big saves.”
Lloris inspired Cherundolo’s message with multiple diving saves in the first 25 minutes of the match, but had little chance to stop each of Houston’s attempts which resulted in goals, both coming inside the 6-yard box.
Ezequiel Ponce and Lawrence Ennali scored for the Dynamo in their 2-0 win over LAFC (14-6-5). It was the first MLS league match for a busy LAFC team since July 20.
LAFC mustered an early push, but showed signs of exhaustion throughout. Houston (11-7-8) benefitted from those lapses, holding possession for 59-percent of the match and stringing together 691 passes to LAFC’s 420.
“The body will go, but sometimes, emotionally, and mentally, you get a little fatigued,” Cherundolo said. “It’s been a mentally draining past couple of weeks.”
LAFC has lost two of its last three matches including Saturday’s loss and a 3-1 defeat to the Columbus Crew in the Leagues Cup final on Sunday, August 25. LAFC has played six games in the last 17 days.
While that may not have been apparent for those whose eyes were glued to Lloris, it certainly was obvious beyond the 6-yard box.
Maxime Chanot’s blunder was the first that called Lloris into action. Ponce took the ball from the French defender in LAFC’s half, and fired a shot right at Lloris’s hands. Four minutes later, Lloris flew left to punch a curving shot from Ibrahim Aliyu to keep the game scoreless.
In the 28th minute, the French goalkeeper’s savvy was nullified by an…
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