Los Angeles Football Club Forward Carlos Vela Voted MLS Player of the Week
NEW YORK
(Monday, April 1, 2019)
– Los Angeles Football Club forward Carlos Vela was voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Week for the fifth week of the 2019 MLS season. This is Vela’s second Player of the Week honor this season, previously winning the award for his performance in the second week of play.
LAFC defeated the San Jose Earthquakes 5-0 at Avaya Stadium on Saturday behind a dominant performance from Vela who finished with his first MLS hat trick along with an assist. Vela leads the league with six goals scored this season while also tying for an MLS-high three assists. LAFC sits atop the Western Conference with an undefeated 4-0-1 record (13 points).
The Mexico National Team star put LAFC on the board early, capitalizing on a goalkeeper error to finish with a tap in on an empty net in the eighth minute (
watch goal
). Moments before the break in first half stoppage time, LAFC took a 3-0 lead when Vela finished a Diego Rossi cross with a left-footed shot into the bottom corner of the goal (
watch goal
).
Vela then completed his first MLS hat trick with a stunning curler from outside the box into the top left corner of goal to give LAFC a 4-0 advantage in the 66
th
minute (
watch goal
). LAFC capped a remarkable day in the 68
th
minute when Vela found Rossi in the box with a quick pass, setting up the Uruguayan’s open shot from inside the box (
watch assist
).
LAFC returns to action on Saturday, April 6 when facing D.C. United at Audi Field (3 p.m. ET, FOX / FOX Deportes / FOX Sports Go).
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while a Twitter fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
