After LAFC lost at home to the Crew on July 13 – the club’s only home loss in 2024 in 20 games at BMO Stadium in all competitions – the Black & Gold stuck with their usual 4-3-3 formation with four defenders in their next game, a 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake.

In the next game, partly due to an injury to midfielder Timmy Tillman, LAFC switched to a 3-4-3 formation with three center backs instead of two, with the two full backs moving to the wings. LAFC won that regular season game in Seattle 3-0. LAFC kept that formation in its Leagues Cup opener against Tijuana on July 26 (another 3-0 win), then switched back to a 4-3-3 against Vancouver, starting young goalkeeper Abraham Romero (who has since moved to Columbus) in place of the resting Hugo Lloris. LAFC earned a 2-2 draw with Vancouver after falling behind 2-0 early on.

In the four matches since that draw – all Leagues Cup knockout matches – the Black & Gold have played exclusively as a 3-4-3 formation, with centre-backs Murillo and Aaron Long positioned outside Maxime Chanot, resulting in four wins and an aggregate score of 13-1.

“It’s going to be different with the back five we’ve been playing,” defender Sergi Palencia said of Sunday’s game against Columbus. “They play really well against teams that play with a back four. They know how to exploit the weaknesses of those opponents.”