LAFC coach calls blizzard loss to RSL 39one of the

LAFC coach calls blizzard loss to RSL 'one of the worst professional sporting events I've ever seen'

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Real Salt Lake defeated LAFC 3-0 on Saturday during a snowstorm in Utah. After the game, LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo didn't mince words about his opinion on the decision to play the game in such extreme weather.

Cherundolo said the only positive he could take away was that no players were injured, but it was a “disgrace” that the game was played.

“It was an absolute joke that we had to play today,” Cherundolo told the media after the game. “It was one of the worst professional sporting events I have ever seen in my life. I'm terribly sorry for the players that we did this to them. The game could and should have been stopped. In my opinion it was an absolute disgrace that we had to play today.”

Kick-off was delayed for two hours due to lightning strikes in the area, and four minutes into the game the players had to go back to the locker room due to a lightning strike. When they returned to continue the game, the snow had gotten heavier and didn't stop for the rest of the game.

“I had a conversation with Steve and the referees before the game,” said RSL head coach Pablo Mastroeni. “At that point we were all on the same page. Then if you decide to start a game while it's snowing, there's very little you can do. As time went on the game became less and less like a football match and the conditions were not desirable for either team. But when we started doing this, we thought, 'Let's just get this over with.'”

RSL took a 2-0 lead thanks to a brace from Andres Gomez before Chicho Arango scored their third goal in first-half stoppage time. He celebrated with a snow angel, a nod to the conditions.

“I just don’t understand why on earth we count a game like that, finish a game like that or even play a game like that,” Cherundolo said.

The result gives RSL its first win of the season after a loss and a draw in its first two games.

“I don’t know how these guys managed to get it from point A to point B,” Mastroeni said. “I couldn’t even walk in the snow, let alone pass the ball.”

“It was just ridiculous, there’s no other way to say it,” Cherundolo added.

(Top photo: Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports)