The good people of Los Angeles sure did know how to throw a party to celebrate sporting success. The last few days had been absolute carnage since his Los Angeles Football Club became Champions of North America by defeating his former side Pachuca in the CONCACAF Champions League Final. And it was fair to say that very few LA residents didn’t know the name Robaato Rasamu.
On Thursday evening, the day they arrived back from Atlanta, Rasamu found himself hanging out at Johnny Depp’s Hollywood mansion, drinking champagne and cocktails with two of his all-time idols David Beckham and Lewis Hamilton. But the celeb lifestyle really wasn’t for Rasamu, who slinked away around 1am, leaving the likes of Luis Fernández, Simone Stanzione and Davy Woolard drinking in their new-found stardom.
Back at his far quainter abode, away from the utter carnage on the streets of LA, sipping a particularly delicious Japanese whisky, Rasamu thought to himself “Two down and three to go.” Approaching 10 years in football management, he’d just completed the second leg of his mission to win all five top-tier continental trophies. So with the AFC Champions League and CONCACAF Champions League in the bag, he now had to target the African Champions League, Copa Libertadores and the European Champions League.
With that in mind, Rasamu had given serious consideration to quitting LAFC after just five months in charge. However, just as he was mulling that over, a notification popped up on his phone that offered him another reason for excitement.
No, not that WhatsApp from David Beckham asking “Did you get home alright mate?” More excitingly, LAFC were joining AC Milan, Ajax, Barcelona, Boca Juniors, Flamengo, Manchester City, Real Madrid, River Plate and Rasamu’s former club Albirex Niigata at the FIFA Club World Cup in June 2033.
LAFC At The FIFA Club World Cup
Rasamu hadn’t taken much notice of the Club World Cup in recent years, but it certainly looked very different to the tinpot tournament he’d previously understood it to be. The Club World Cup now looks more like the original FIFA World Cup, consisting of eight groups of four teams from which two qualify for the knockout stages.
LAFC got a really exciting but slightly irritating draw. First up, there was the excitement of taking on the side that Rasamu considered to be the Kings of Football, Real Madrid, for the first time in his career. They also faced Colombian side Atlético Nacional but then came a little frustration at having to play the dirty Saudis Al-Ittihad.
His team had a nice 10-day break before heading off to the Club World Cup. So Rasamu gave them a few days off but, on 2 June 2033, Rasamu packed his bags ready to head to Europe for the first time in his 49 years of life.
Five days later, he was in Germany, putting the final touches to his final training session ready to face the might of Real Madrid at Olympiastadion Berlin. That meant they were going up against the likes of Jude Bellingham, Rasamu’s favourite Viní Jr., Arda Guler, Eduardo Camavinga, Goncalo Ramos and co.
LAFC managed to restrict Madrid to long range potshots and went into half time at 0-0. But Ramos broke through after 58 minutes (just as Rasamu was taking the exhausted Davy Woolard off), nothing else happened and they only lost 1-0 to Real Madrid.
A few days later in Munich, they were up against Nacional and LAFC got a flyer as Fernández scored in the attack straight from the kick off. But they instantly conceded then immediately retook the lead from the resulting kick off through Stanzione! The game calmed down a little but Stanzione and Fernández doubled their tallies to take them into half time 4-1 up. And Stanzione wrapped up his hat trick late on to seal a 5-2 victory.
Madrid beat Al-Ittihad 3-0, so if LAFC could draw with the Saudis they would qualify for the knockouts. In Dortmund this time, nothing happened in the first half but the Saudis went ahead 30 seconds into the second. That proved to be their only real attack as LAFC woke up, levelled through winger Nathan Ordaz and went in front thanks to Fernández’s smart finish.
That 2-1 win sent LAFC into the knockouts along with the likes of Milan, Dortmund, City, Leipzig, PSG, Bayern, Arsenal and Boca.
That meant they were destined for a tricky second round tie and so it proved, as LAFC were paired with Barcelona. The Spanish giants, still managed by Xavi, have the likes of Gavi, Pedri, Lamine Yamal, Vitor Roque, and another new city was ticked off as they travelled to Leipzig for another shot at nothing. LAFC lost Ordaz to suspension and this time there was no chance of an upset as Barca dominated, went 2-0 up through Joao Pedro and Roque then injured Fernández.
But against all the odds, his replacement Cuahtémoc Clark teed up Ordaz’s replacement Richie O’Toole to slam one into the top corner and they were swiflty level as midfielder Woolard whipped in a superb free kick. Woolard then had a huge chance as he went through one on one, but Verbruggen pulled off a huge save. Just as Rasamu was thinking about turning on time wasting, his players had other ideas as a superb counter attack put Clark in to put them 3-2 ahead on 88 minutes. Rasamu instantly went defensive, Pedro forced a good save out of Mejía, who kickstarted another counter that ended up Woolard smashing home his second! So out of nowhere, it finished LAFC 4-2 Barcelona!
The bad news was that Fernández was ruled out for four weeks and they then had to take on PSG in thre quarter final. PSG are now managed by Luis Enrique and have the likes of Kylian Mbappé (now 34), Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Jamal Musiala. A trip to Hamburg started horribly as Mbappé scored inside three minutes and quickly created the second. They eventually won 3-0 but all of their goals from the second stages of corners, which was a little bit frustrating.
So the World Club Cup dream ended there, but Rasamu was massively proud of his team’s efforts to not only qualify but then beat the mighty Barcelona with a ridiculous comeback.
MLS Takes A Back Seat
Amid all the excitement of the CONCACAF Champions League then heading to the Club World Cup, Rasamu had taken very little interest in Major League Soccer. But, despite heavy rotation for continental matters, his LAFC side had started the domestic season relatively well.
A 3-1 opening day win over Portland was followed by 3-1 defeat at NYRB, then four consecutive wins were followed by three straight defeats to Austin FC, Real Salt Lake and Inter Miami. But Clark’s goal to down Eastern leaders Colombus Crew 1-0 left them in 3rd just two points behind Western leaders San Jose. And, after the Club World Cup, they had seven games in hand and trailed San Jose by 11 points.
But that was where Rasamu decided to leave LAFC. He’d already completed his mission to become Champion of North America and didn’t have the heart for a fight to win a pointless MLS title. Plus, he was a little fed up with a few bad apples in the LAFC dressing room constantly complaining and demanding huge Designated contracts he wasn’t capable of giving them.
So with that, after six months as Manager of LAFC, Robaato Rasamu tendered his resignation and began looking for opportunities to add to his two continental titles. He departs LAFC after 32 games in charge, of which he won 20, drew three and lost nine, scoring 77 goals and conceding 49.
Where would Rasamu end up next? Join us on Friday to find out!
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