Chiellini, Bale get LAFC home debuts in 2-1 win over Seattle

CBSLA.com: The Rundown (July 29 PM Edition)

CBSLA.com: The Rundown (July 29 PM Edition) 03:45

Kwadwo Opoku and Carlos Vela scored in the first half, and Los Angeles FC beat the Seattle Sounders two-one Friday night in the home debuts of European superstars Giorgio Chiellini and Gareth Bale.

Major League Soccer-leading LAFC (15-4-3) earned its season-all-time fourth sequent victory and moved seven points clear of Austin atop the Western Conference during its longest winning streak since 2019. LAFC is also six points alee Philadelphia in the race for the Supporters' Shield.

Seattle scored on an early own-goal by LAFC, but still dropped to 0-five-1 at the Banc during the regular flavour. The Sounders won the 2019 Western Briefing final hither.

Seattle Sounders FC v Los Angeles Football Club — LOS ANGELES, CA - JULY 29: Gareth Bale of Los Angeles Football Club during the Major League Soccer friction match between Los Angeles Football Gild and Seattle Sounders FC at Banc of California Stadium on July 29, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. / Getty Images

Chiellini started and played 71 minutes at Banc of California Stadium, while Bale came on as a substitute in the 63rd minute of both players' third match with their new club. The duo'due south moves to LAFC this summer turned a squad that was already atop the MLS tabular array into a potential powerhouse for the final three months of the flavour.

Bale, who scored his first MLS goal at Kansas City concluding week, got several standing ovations from the lively crowd. Chiellini too got loud cheers when he checked out.

Chiellini and LAFC were cheered on in the front row at Banc of California Stadium by Ángel Di María and several other players from Juventus, the guild that employed Chiellini for the past 17 seasons. Juve is in Los Angeles on its U.S. summer bout to face Real Madrid at the Rose Bowl on Saturday night. Bale as well visited his quondam Madrid teammates at their training session in Los Angeles before this week.

Seattle went ahead in the 14th minute when Cristian Roldan forced a turnover and made a sizzling cross into the box, where a sliding Jesús Murillo tipped it into his ain net.

LAFC appeared to score in the 27th minute with a thunderous strike by Vela, but the goal was disallowed when video review indicated Vela used his arm to settle the ball.

Opoku all the same evened it eight minutes later with an impressive strike of his own, threading a shot between two Sounders and past a diving Stefan Frei. The 21-year-old Ghanaian frontward known better known equally Mahala is finding his groove in MLS with five goals this season.

Vela got the go-ahead goal in the 43rd minute when he slid to deflect José Cifuentes' beautiful cross past Frei at point-blank range.