Gareth Bale scored his first goal for LAFC on Saturday night during a 2-0 victory against Sporting KC. Bale was substituted in at the 65-minute mark and fired in his first MLS goal in the 83rd minute to put the nail in the coffin for LAFC.
Gareth Bale First MLS Goal
GARETH BALEEEEE@GarethBale11 scores his first goal in MLS for @LAFC! pic.twitter.com/Pk6J5tyLeO
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 24, 2022
2015 - @GarethBale11 is the first Welshman to score an @MLS goal since Robert Earnshaw for Vancouver in 2015. Dragon. pic.twitter.com/fkBpQ4CCYs
— OptaJack⚽️ (@OptaJack) July 24, 2022
The 33-year-old hasn’t started a game for LAFC yet as Saturday night was his second appearance as a substitute.
LAFC is sitting pretty as the best team in MLS with 45 points from 21 games. The season is still relatively young, but LAFC has one eye on the Supporter’s Shield and the other on MLS Cup.
Bale wasn’t the only big name making noise on Saturday. Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi made their debuts for Toronto FC in a 4-0 thumping of Charlotte FC. Both the Italians started on the wings for a Toronto side sitting second-to-last in the Western Conference.
Insigne had an incredibly cheeky backheel assist to Michael Bradley while Bernardeschi scored his first MLS goal.
Insigne --> Bradley@Lor_Insigne gets his first assist in MLS as @TorontoFC are up 4-0 before halftime. pic.twitter.com/djDhPg1TuY
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 24, 2022
️ @fbernardeschi!!!
Bernardeschi scores on his debut to make it 3-0 to @TorontoFC. pic.twitter.com/YFUb7tEE7s— Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 24, 2022
Is Toronto going to become the real-life version of “Kicking and Screaming” and the game plan becomes pass it to the Italians?
Perhaps Charlotte had a slight hangover from its friendly victory against Chelsea on Wednesday.