LOS ANGELES FOOTBALL CLUB MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 13, 2020

Latif Blessing

Press Conference

Los Angeles FC - 4, Portland - 2

THE MODERATOR: Great to see you. Nice shirt by the way. There you go. That's for Latif playing his 100th game in MLS tonight. So congratulations, Latif.

And let's start there, if we can. Just talk about what that number means to you and how important it is for you as someone who is came here from Ghana to now having played a hundred matches in this league. That's really incredible.

LATIF BLESSING: I thank everybody. I thank my family. I thank my mom, everybody in the LAFC, in the MLS. For me to make a great team like this, I'm so happy. So this is my 100th game. I keep, I have to keep going. I have to keep my head up and that's what I'm doing. So I think this season things are not going, like, really well right now, but I think going forward it's going to be better.

THE MODERATOR: You said that over the past week, that you just had to keep fighting. And after two losses to come out and play this well and to -- and you were moving all over the field position-wise. How do you feel just after finally being able to get this win?

LATIF BLESSING: Yeah. That's what I'm saying, like, when I keep going, everybody just keep going. Everybody is like watching me. So after the game they said to me, like, Hey, Latif, you have to keep going. So that's why, like, I work myself out. I have good energy to play a good game, like, I come to right back, I come to the middle, I go to the left wing. So it's a great win. It's a great win. I thank everybody. I thank my teammates for helping me out, so we thank everybody.

THE MODERATOR: Did you know that this was your 100th game when you were driving to the stadium today?

LATIF BLESSING: Yeah, yeah, I saw it. I was so happy, you know. I think my mom called me today, so I said to my mom, I said, Today is my 100th game in MLS. So my mom was happy. She told me, like, we have to win this game, so everyone is, like, pulling for me. So I'm happy. My 100th game that we won, so I'm so happy.

THE MODERATOR: Let's take some questions, please.

Q. Congratulations on your 100th game and also the win today.

LATIF BLESSING: Thank you.

Q. Bob talked about earlier, about how you can play in so many places and you motivate yourself, the team, and you motivate the fans. So do you have a message for the fans, since we can't be there with you celebrating, what do you want to say to them?

LATIF BLESSING: I just want to say to them I miss them a lot. I miss the fans a lot. So I'm so happy we won this game. I think that everybody, when we start losing, like, everybody is saying, you know, we're on your side and I told them, We're going to come on, so you guys, I said we need you guys, you guys support us. So thank you for everybody, thank you for the fans, we miss you a lot, we hope to see you soon, we miss you.

Q. How do you focus as a third striker? You have played in almost every position in the field. I feel like next game you're going to be a goal keeper or something like that. How do you feel as the third striker?

LATIF BLESSING: You know, I have energy, so Bob trusts me. After the game he spoke to me like, Hey, I trust you, and that's why I just want you to play in the position. So me today, I feel good, like I need to help the team, like the team is going like a bad way, so I have to help the team, so that's what I have to do. So I'm working, I'm ready to play any position like Bob ready to play me, I'm going to play it, because I have to help this team. So I'm so happy to win this game tonight.

THE MODERATOR: All right, thank you Latif and congratulations.