When Steve Cherundolo was hired as coach of LAFC, he didn’t know how long he’d stay.
He knows now.
Cherundolo announced in April that this season, his fourth with the club, would be his last. And the end of that season is finally in sight heading into Saturday’s playoff game in Vancouver.
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“Yes, of course it feels real,” Cherundolo said last week.
Real enough that Cherundolo is coaching not only to make history but also to extend his time with LAFC. A loss in Vancouver or in the Western Conference final will end the season — and Cherundolo’s time with the team.
Two victories, however, would take him to the championship game next month, making him just the second coach to take a team to three MLS Cup finals in his first four seasons in the league.
Denis Bouanga (99) and LAFC celebrate after defeating Club America in a Club World Cup play-in game at BMO Stadium. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
“It doesn’t really concern me,” Cherundolo said of his legacy. “I’m concerned about winning games, more importantly the next one. You just kind of treat it that way the entire time. And then, when you’re done, you can be happy with that result.”
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Regardless of how this ends, Cherundolo’s place in MLS history is secure. He’s the only coach to win an MLS title and a Supporter’s Shield in his first season and he had the most wins (29), most points (96) and best winning percentage through 50 games of any coach in league history.
He also won a U.S. Open Cup and took his team to a CONCACAF Champions League final. By beating Mexico’s Club América in a one-game playoff this year, he earned his team a $10-million bonus by qualifying for the FIFA Club World Cup.
Not bad for a guy whose only previous managerial job with a senior team was a 6-23-3 season with the Las Vegas Lights, then LAFC’s affiliate in the second-tier USL Championship.
“It has been really, really special,” LAFC co-president Larry Freedman said of Cherundolo’s tenure. “You never know until the person is in the seat doing the job, making the decisions.
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“This is a game of inches. So you get a really great football mind and a really good guy, good human, and you catch some breaks along the way and some great stuff has happened.”
Cherundolo, previously an assistant coach with two clubs in Germany and the U.S. men’s team, took the Las Vegas job with the understanding that he would replace Bob Bradley when the LAFC coach stepped down — which Bradley did after missing the playoffs in 2021, the same year Cherundolo was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame as a player.
Read more: Denis Bouanga leads LAFC past Austin FC and into Western Conference semifinals
Freedman and former players including Carlos Vela have credited Cherundolo’s success to his laid-back California cool, which stands in stark contrast to Bradley’s old-school ferocity.
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Defender Ryan Hollingshead, who came to LAFC weeks after Cherundolo took over, said the coach is different because he cares about his players on and off the field.
“He knows about my family, I know about his family. Nothing is off the table,” Hollingshead said. “It’s not like he’s got a private life and then he’s got his work life. He’s one whole person. A big part of the culture here is making it not just about the player but bringing the kids in and the wives in and making everybody feel part of the club.”
“I don’t know that that’s a magic formula that works all the time,” Freedman added. “But clearly it has worked here.”
Cherundolo, who played for Bradley in the 2010 World Cup, guided the team his old coach left behind to 21 wins — tied for second-most in the MLS modern era — and a league championship in that first season. If anyone needed proof Cherundolo was up to the task, that performance provided it.
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“It’s never just a one-man show. It definitely has to do with the staff here at LAFC too,” Cherundolo said. “I always knew I could be a coach. I never really doubted my skill set.
“But you don’t really know. So, yeah, it was gratifying having done it now and proven to myself.”
LAFC (17-8-9) will face a major challenge in trying to extend its season Saturday on the turf in Vancouver against a Whitecaps team (18-7-9) that has lost just once since Thomas Müller joined the roster from Bayern Munich in August.
Müller, who played against Cherundolo frequently when both were in the Bundesliga, scored seven times and added three assists in seven games for a Vancouver team that set franchise records for wins (18), points (63), goals (66) and goal differential (+28).
LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo gives a thumbs-up to his player during a victory over Austin FC in the MLS Cup playoffs. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images)
LAFC has lost just twice in MLS play since landing its own midseason addition, South Korean captain Son Heung-min. Son has nine goals and three assists in 10 games.
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Adding to the challenge for LAFC is the fact the Whitecaps will make more history Saturday because the game, which sold out more than a week ago, is expected to top the franchise-record 53,837 that came to BC Place in April to see Inter Miami.
Cherundolo caught much of MLS by surprise when he said he would be leaving LAFC at the end of the season to return with his family to Germany, where he spent his 15-year playing career. He made the announcement then, he said, to help the team prepare for his departure.
But now that the end is near, everything feels rushed.
“Moving means canceling subscriptions, possibly furniture, cars. The whole nine yards,” he said.
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“Giving everybody enough time to prepare for next season was the right call. I would not have done it any differently.”
Hollingshead said the coach’s stamp will remain on the team long after he’s gone.
“Steve’s job, more than just building a culture around himself, was building a culture that could survive without him,” Hollingshead said. “The best leaders are the leaders that when you pull the leader out, the machine keeps working. He put just the right spin on it and it’s created what has led to a bunch of success over the last four years.”
Read more: MLS makes dramatic calendar and format changes that align with other pro leagues
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What comes next for Cherundolo is uncertain, though it will begin with some landscaping.
“I have a lot of work to do in my garden,” he said.
“And,” he said, “I’m looking forward to some time off.”
When he’s ready to get back into the job market, Cherundolo said he’ll be “open for any coaching job. But maybe some other avenues as well.”
Even a return to MLS isn’t off the table. If he does come back to coaching it will be with high expectations given what he accomplished in his latest job, which he hopes lasts another two weeks.
“We’re all very proud of what we’ve been able to achieve. And we’re really focused on and motivated to finish on the strongest note possible,” he said.
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“It’s the full spectrum of emotions. It’s sad to leave, it’s a wonderful club. But what’s exciting is the next chapter, professionally and personally, with the family back in Germany.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
