LAFC opens MLS play with a new captain for a new season

Coming into its 30th season, Major League Soccer wants to change how players interact with the referees.

Across the world, match officials are familiar with multiple players getting in their face, arguing or pleading calls that did or did not get made. MLS was no exception. But this year it mandated that only captains are allowed to approach and address referees following key decisions.

Initiating a direct and uninterrupted line of communication, the league hopes, will reduce moments of what it describes as mobbing, which to be fair can be a byproduct of the game’s passion and intensity. Interactions between the officials and players are otherwise encouraged throughout a match.

“I think it’s a clever rule,” said LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo, himself a tenured captain with German club Hannover 96. “Yeah, I actually do think it’s a very good idea.”

Starting with the league opener Saturday at BMO Stadium, when LAFC hosts Minnesota United FC, the punishment for invading the referee’s space? A yellow card for dissent. Cherundolo finds no benefit in arguing calls with a referee. Instead he wants players to quickly switch to the next play and move forward.

“I’m hopeful this will do a lot for the game and keep players focused for the entire 90 minutes,” he said.

On top of whatever ramifications the rule carries across the league and beyond, in the near term it sets up 32-year-old center back Aaron Long, named by Cherundolo as LAFC’s captain for 2025, to get plenty of face time with the referees through the end of the year.

Like his coach, Long sees no real value in arguing referee decisions, though he often finds himself chatting with the person holding the whistle so the edict from the league won’t be much different in that respect.

Re-signed this offseason through 2027, Long’s third year with LAFC marks his first as captain. He served in that role several times for the U.S. men’s national team, and did the job in 2022 during his last season with the New York Red Bulls prior to joining the Black & Gold as a free agent.

What makes a good captain?

“Authenticity,” Long answered. “Just being yourself out there. Being a guy players can look at and know what they’re going to get. Having some dependability, taking responsibility for situations and I think holding guys to a certain standard.”

It’s the sort of spot Long relishes, which was apparent to Cherundolo as preseason moved along.

At Hannover, Cherundolo was on teams where players voted for a captain and teams where the coaches decided. Entering Year 4 as LAFC’s head coach, the 46-year-old American prefers the latter, using training camp to observe how things naturally shake out within the group.

“A period of observations that come to an obvious conclusion,” Cherundolo said regarding his process for selecting a captain. “Let things play out and observe, and certainly one of the goals of preseason is to find and create a clear hierarchy on the team as far as leadership goes, and to be well-balanced, to make sure everybody is included, everybody has a voice, but also to understand that when things are not going well who is going to speak up and who will roll up their sleeves.”

The work fans pay attention to most began Tuesday when Long and his teammates visited frozen-solid Denver, where the Colorado Rapids won, 2-1, in the opening leg of the CONCACAF Champions Cup’s first-round home-and-away series.

It was Long who connected on the end of a cross by Denis Bouanga late in the match that notched a critical away goal and improved LAFC’s chance of advancing when the teams conclude the series next week at BMO Stadium.

Despite being forced to stay in Denver overnight because their charter flight could not depart in the frigid conditions, the group, which sacrificed its off-day on Wednesday, still recovered well for the start of the 34-match MLS regular season on Saturday afternoon.

Against Minnesota, which ended last season losing a Western Conference semifinal match to the eventual MLS Cup champion Galaxy, LAFC will try to stay unblemished in MLS season openers by winning an eighth straight.

“As a group we’re taking it one game at a time,” Long said. “We have three home games coming up in a row, so just to start this next stretch off now with a win to start the MLS season, if we have that, build some confidence and carry that over into Tuesday, it would be fantastic.”

MLS OPENER: MINNESOTA at LAFC

When: Saturday, 1:30 p.m.

Where: BMO Stadium

TV: FOX (Ch. 11), Apple TV (MLS Season Pass), Apple TV+