LAFC’s Maxime Crepeau gets a crack at his old Vancouver teammates
Throughout his last regular-season appearance with the Vancouver Whitecaps, goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau did everything within his power to deny the Los Angeles Football Club.
By the end of LAFC’s critical 2021 home finale, Crepeau stopped 10 of the 11 shots he faced, leaving him with 31 goals conceded against 97 saves in 27 appearances for the year.
In the opposing net on that early November evening, Englishman Jamal Blackman dealt with only two shots on target over the 90-minute contest, saving one. Between the three goalkeepers who played for LAFC last year (Tomas Romero, Pablo Sisniega and Blackman) the club tallied 69 saves while allowing 51 goals.
By preserving a 1-1 draw that effectively put Crepeau’s side in the playoffs and closed the door on the Black & Gold’s postseason aspirations, the Canadian international understood the assignment when the club he stonewalled traded for him in January.
If he had to make double-digit saves to keep LAFC in matches, fine, although that would be an unexpected sign of a softer style of defense than Los Angeles has delivered during the previous four seasons.
More important for Crepeau was making saves when it counted most instead of giving away goals at the worst moments and walking away with fewer points than LAFC deserved.
“You have to be really focused on every play,” Crepau said Friday. “One ball can hurt you at any time of the game, so you have to respond when we have the opportunity to.”
The truth about LAFC’s propensity to concede at terrible times reflects on more than just the goalkeeper, but Crepeau’s arrival was heralded as a significant upgrade and so far the 27-year-old has shown why.
Delivering two clean sheets and turning away six shots on target in 270 minutes of action, Crepeau has offered a dominating presence behind the backline who engages with supporters and mixes it up with opponents.
On Sunday, Crepeau gets his first crack at beating the Whitecaps (0-2-1, 1 point) when Vancouver, led by Scottish midfielder Ryan Gauld and a group of fast-paced attackers, returns to the Banc of California Stadium in last place in the Western Conference.
The Whitecaps have scored just once in their three games.
“They will be motivated to try to win that game and really to push me a little bit as well,” Crepeau said. “I got some texts from older teammates. A little bit of trash talking before the game, it’s perfect. We love it.
“On the field, nothing changes for me. It’s business as usual. We need to get the three points. We need to play well, focus on our game and from there the first five to 10 minutes be focused, really intelligent, managing the game, then do our thing at the Banc.”
With one match remaining before a short pause in play for the closing window in CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying, LAFC (2-0-1, 7 points) enters the contest leading the conference following a victory in their first road trip last week at Miami.
“It’s a difficult game for us,” LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo said. “It’s going to be similar in some ways to Portland where it’s a team who defends with everything they have and who can beat you on the counter. But also, because of their formation, will pose a threat with crosses.
“We have to be good at defending in the box. We have to be good not letting teams in behind our backline. And with the ball, we need to be much sharper and more precise with our passing than we were in Miami.”
VANCOUVER AT LAFC
When: 7 p.m. Sunday
Where: Banc of California Stadium
TV/Radio: KCOP 13, Estrella TV KRCW-62 / 710 AM, 980 AM