-
Newly appointed LAFC head coach Marc Dos Santos speaks with the media during his introductory press conference on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, at BMO Stadium. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
1 of 7
Newly appointed LAFC head coach Marc Dos Santos speaks with the media during his introductory press conference on Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, at BMO Stadium. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Expand
LOS ANGELES — The finale of Steve Cherundolo’s four-year run as head coach of the Los Angeles Football Club presented like a fork in the road.
Facing the Vancouver Whitecaps in a Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 22 in Canada, LAFC fell behind 2-0 after a meek first half. Opting to keep its powder dry, LAFC played conservatively, as if it was more concerned with not conceding goals than determining its own fate.
After the break, LAFC reconnected to the DNA that made it the most successful club in MLS for the past eight seasons. Dominating the Whitecaps by ramping up its intensity and dictating terms, the group ultimately drew level before bowing out of the MLS Cup playoffs in a shootout.
A few weeks later, the new man in charge, 48-year-old Marc Dos Santos, officially introduced as LAFC’s third manager on Monday at BMO Stadium, is clear which path he intends to traverse with his team.
An assistant for Cherundolo since 2022 as well as LAFC’s inaugural season in 2018 with Bob Bradley, the split-personality showing against Vancouver signaled to Dos Santos that, given the choice, the Black & Gold should show up from the start and play like they did in the second half against the Whitecaps.
“My style of play is LAFC’s style of play,” Dos Santos said.
A natural inclination to attack is one reason LAFC’s ownership and front office opted to stay in-house and elevate Dos Santos into arguably the most coveted head coaching position in MLS.
“We don’t have the luxury of saying all we gotta do is win and we’ll park the bus and win,” LAFC co-president and general manager John Thorrington said. “That’s not what this building stands for. It’s L.A. We have to win and we have to win and entertain. We’ve done a lot of that the past four years. We want to really drill down on that.”
Under Bradley, LAFC operated like a goal machine that overwhelmed opponents with a visually fun style that bordered on reckless, especially when results fell short of his teams’ potential.
Under Cherundolo, LAFC still scored plenty of goals. They also lifted more trophies and set impressive benchmarks. Yet those teams were prone to stepping off the gas as LAFC moved toward a hybrid style that offset entertainment with pragmatism and prioritized defending alongside balance in the attack.
“I think there was a way in which we played our first four years,” Thorrington said. “Candidly, I think there was a bit of a drift [with Cherundolo]. How much drift I think is up for debate, but I think that part of this and the value of Marc is that conviction where are the guardrails now. There was a lot of success over those four years.”
Among a group of 20 serious candidates, including fellow LAFC assistant Ante Razov, Dos Santos represents Thorrington’s second in-house hire for the head coaching role following Cherundolo’s ascension from the Las Vegas Lights.
“Marc successfully demonstrated a clear conviction of what the best version of LAFC looks like, and that aligned very clearly with how our executive committee and decision-makers felt about LAFC,” Thorrington said.
If there’s a mandate for Dos Santos it is this: “Be LAFC.”
Dos Santos had an offer to coach another unnamed MLS team beginning in 2026, but he passed for the chance to take on the “privilege” of increased pressure and expectations that come with the Black & Gold.
“He opened the door for me to be interviewed,” Dos Santos said of Thorrington. “Before that I was kind of thinking if Steve leaves maybe it’s the end for me in L.A. and what I’ll do next. I was already kind of planning in my head. But when John opened the door for the interview process, I went in with everything I had.”
Instrumental to the hiring process, which began in earnest in August, Thorrington received near-unanimous support from the players for Dos Santos. who is heading into his second MLS head coaching stint after managing Vancouver from 2019-2021.
“Their support for this decision was critical and very important for myself, owners and the executives to hear that Marc had their full support because there is always a question about that transition from assistant to head coach,” Thorrington said.
Dos Santos learned about the support from the players after being offered the position and called it the most important moment for him.
“It gives me the confidence and the sureness of arriving in preseason with the backing of them and that’s so important,” he said.
Coming into the 2026 campaign, Dos Santos – fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French – expects some changes to his staff, which is being determined now, giving his players new voices to keep them on their toes.
LAFC returns the vast majority of the players Dos Santos worked with last year, including of course Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga.
“He has earned the trust in his time at LAFC of our locker room,” Thorrington said. “From our young emerging players to our most experienced veterans, that belief in Marc is real and that alignment is critical to our future success.”
