These 9 LAFC players just won their first top-flight trophy

The honor is probably a little sweeter for these guys.

LAFC lifted the Supporters’ Shield on Sunday (literally!), their second major trophy, after posting the best regular season record in MLS in 2022.

While the work isn’t done yet for the team this season, let’s take a moment to recognize the group of players who won a major trophy in the top flight for the first time with this Shield win. One note: This group encompasses all the players who played in the league for LAFC this season, so while the homegrowns also won the title and were present for the celebration Sunday, we’re only including players who played at least a minute in regular season play in 2022.

Danny Trejo: LAFC’s draft pick turned pro in 2021 before joining black-and-gold this year.

Kwadwo Opoku: Turned pro in 2020 with LAFC.

Cal Jennings: Turned pro in the USL Championship in 2020, began LAFC tenure in 2021.

Sebas Mendez: Became a professional in 2015 in Ecuador, joined LAFC this summer after 3.5 seasons at Orlando City.

Jose Cifuentes: Turned pro in Ecuador in 2016, joined LAFC in 2020.

Sebastien Ibeagha: Turned pro in 2013, and has played professionally in Denmark, Iceland, the USL and MLS.

Maxime Crepeau: A bit of an asterisk on this one, admittedly. While he was a member of the Montreal Impact when they won the Canadian Championship in 2013 and 2014, he didn’t make an appearance in either season for their first team.

John McCarthy: Has divided career between USL and MLS, made one league appearance this season. Made professional debut in 2014, top flight debut in 2015.

Denis Bouanga: Attacker turned pro in France in 2014. Bouncing between top four divisions in France, after a long stint at Saint-Etienne, the Gabonese international joined LAFC in August.

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