Carlos Vela’s hat trick powers LAFC to season-opening win over Colorado

The clock could strike midnight on Carlos Vela’s MLS career in June. That’s when his contract with LAFC runs out, and unless he and the team agree to a new one, the ball will be over for the former league MVP and the face of the franchise.

“You know how sports are. It’s a business too,” Vela said. “Who knows where I can be in six months? So I live in the present.”

So does the team. Because after watching Vela struggle through two injury-plagued seasons in which he missed more games than he played, LAFC general manager John Thorrington has shown little urgency in getting a new deal done.

That could change after Saturday’s season-opener, in which Vela proved both his fitness and his form by scoring three times in 21 minutes of a 3-0 win over the Colorado Rapids.

After the busiest winter in the franchise’s brief history, LAFC opened the year with a new coach in Steve Cherundolo, nine new players and five starters who weren’t with the team at the start of last season.

One thing remained the same, however: As long as Vela is on the field, the offense will run through him.

LAFC fans celebrate a goal by Carlos Vela during the first half against Colorado on Saturday.

(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

One of only two holdovers from LAFC’s first season in 2018, Vela gave the team its first goal of 2022 in the 29th minute on a penalty kick, awarded when Colorado’s Lalas Abubakar was called for a handball on the edge of the 18-yard box. Vela stutter-stepped slowly to the ball, then buried a low left-footed shot into the right corner.

He doubled the lead with a fast-break goal six minutes later, chesting down a José Cifuentes through ball from the Colorado half, then holding off Abubakar to beat Rapids’ keeper William Yarbrough with a right-footed shot from the spot where he coveted the penalty try.

Vela completed his first hat trick since 2019 five minutes into the second half, sending a left-footed shot from the top of the box into side netting at the far post.

The three goals are just two shy of his total from all of last season while his 86 minutes was his longest playing stint since mid-August. Whether that’s enough to keep the league’s best-paid player in uniform through the summer depends on LAFC.

“It’s not in my hands. I’m waiting for the offer from the club,” said Vela, who turns 33 on Tuesday. “If they don’t give a good [offer], I know this is business and we will move forward. It’s nothing to be worried about.

“Nobody will cry. Nobody will die.”