Latif Blessing: LAFC's Round of 16 win over Seattle Sounders was "payback time"

It was a different knockout game in a different tournament, but revenge was on the mind of LAFC when they met the Seattle Sounders in the Round of 16 of the MLS is Back Tournament Monday night.

A 3-1 Conference Final defeat to the Sounders nine months ago left a bitter taste in their collective mouths, which made the 4-1 victory in Orlando even sweeter.

“This time around it’s like payback time,” said Latif Blessing, whose deflected goal in the 39th minute put LAFC up 2-0. “We just worked ourselves out that we’re going to win this game. That’s why it happened.”

While it might not be like for like payback, forward Danny Musovski, who came off the bench for the final 10 minutes, confirmed that last year's playoff encounter was certainly a motivating factor for the 2019 Supporters' Shield winners.

“That was a big thing,” he said. “We did try to treat it like any other game, but obviously with how last year ended, we did want a little bit of revenge. I don’t know if that’s the right word, but we just wanted to come out and get that one back.”

With payback achieved, LAFC move on to the quarterfinals to meet Orlando City SC Friday (7:30 pm ET | FS1, TUDN, FOX Deportes, UniMás in US; TSN, TVAS2) where the focus shifts back to a title quest.

“Orlando is a good club, a good team so we are preparing,” Blessing said. “We are here to win the trophy so any team, any opponent will come, we’re going to work ourselves out to get three points. We are ready for any team who comes. LAFC, we’re a better team, so we are ready for anybody.”