LAFC coach Bob Bradley expects to have Diego Rossi, the reigning MLS scoring champion, available for Saturday’s game in Houston, but captain Carlos Vela, the 2019 Golden Boot winner, is unlikely to make the trip.
“You can see in his training that he’s missing being on the field,” Bradley said of Rossi, who had 14 goals and four assists last season.
Rossi and Vela are the first teammates to win scoring titles in back-to-back seasons but they’ve started just four times together the last two years. Rossi missed LAFC’s first two regular-season games because of a left hamstring injury while Vela started the opener but came out midway through the first half with a knot in his right quadriceps.