Carlos Vela featured as MLS Player of The Matchday 8
Announced today, MLS and LAFC have voted in Carlos Vela as the MLS Player of the Matchday 8. On Sunday, April 16, LAFC defeated the LA Galaxy for the first time in club history at Dignity Sports Health Park. Vela surpassed Zlatan Ibrahimović’s eight-goal record with his ninth and tenth goals for the most ever in the historic El Tráfico showdown.
Throughout his 10 rivalry matches, Vela’s 10 goals are tied for the fifth-most in MLS history versus the LA Galaxy. Vela is currently tied for sixth place in the MLS with seven goal contributions (three goals, four assists) in 2023. Only five players across the league this 2023 season have at least three goals and three assists, including El Capitan himself. Since 2018, the closest competitors to Vela have only had five games with at least three goal contributions. Vela has produced an MLS-best with 10.
Vela’s MLS Player of the Matchday 8 becomes the second consecutive Black and Gold player to win the honor, following last week’s award to Dénis Bouanga. El Capitan has received this award nine times throughout his career, which is the most in MLS since the beginning of 2018. Only Landon Donovan (19), Jeff Cunningham (14), Bradley Wright-Phillips (12), Chris Wondolowski (11), and Dwayne De Rosario (10) have more in MLS history.
The MLS Player of the Matchday 8 is presented by Continental Tire. Every matchday of the regular season, MLS Communications conducts a poll of the media and fans to make the selection. 75 percent of the votes are cast by a group of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR), and the remaining 25 percent are conducted by Twitter fan votes.
