The Los Angeles Football Club earned three points Saturday afternoon in an unlikely way, bettering MLS cellar-dwellers San Jose off a pair of goals from defender Walker Zimmerman that kept the Black & Gold near the top of the Western Conference.
Looking to jump ahead of the struggling Earthquakes (4-18-8), which came into the match with a league-low four wins and 20 points, LAFC began with plenty of energy.
Throughout the first half, LAFC went at the San Jose net from a variety of angles. Attempts to link up play between attackers, including striker Adama Diomande, who started for the first time since Aug. 5, were repeatedly turned away. However, the aggression yielded nine corner kicks in the first 45 minutes, and 12 for the match.
On LAFC’s eighth attempt in the 41st minute, Zimmerman missed his header off a Carlos Vela cross but the ball caught his left shoulder and was redirected into the net just the same.
Zimmerman’s first league goal of the season, on Vela’s ninth assist, was LAFC’s third finish off a corner kick.
The forward-defender pair doubled LAFC’s season tally for corner-kick goals in the 68th minute when Vela hit the team’s 12th attempt into the box and again found Zimmerman, this time for a clean header, providing the Black & Gold some breathing room heading into the latter stages of the match.
Vela took over full-time captain duties following the transfer of Laurent Ciman. The 29-year-old Mexican international is the first LAFC player to reach double-digit goals and assists in a season.
For Zimmerman, who scored a headed goal for the U.S. men’s national team in June in a pre-World Cup friendly against the eventual winner France, the performance came at an important moment as he hashes out a new contract with LAFC.
Unlike last Saturday’s contest against New England, LAFC remained strong down the stretch, securing goalkeeper Tyler Miller’s ninth clean sheet of the season.
LAFC’s 50 points have it in the running for a top-two seed in the Western Conference, behind Sporting KC and FC Dallas.
LAFC (14-7-8) has five games remaining after Saturday’s 2-0 win.
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