Attempting to reach a third straight MLS Cup final, the Los Angeles Football Club seems poised to make another run in a league that comes off like it penalizes success.

Despite this trying reality, LAFC keeps finding ways to compete. Following a ton of roster turnover – again – the 2024 season ought to feel fresh yet familiar whether or not Carlos Vela returns. His status, of course, remains the biggest question about the upcoming season.

Here are a few more:

What happened with the 3252 supporters sanctions?

Fans inside BMO Stadium should not notice anything different about the sights, sounds and feels coming out of the North End of the building, where the 3252 independent supporters union has earned a reputation as one of if not the most passionate and important drivers of fan culture in Major League Soccer.

Just don’t expect flares to pop off like the last match LAFC played at BMO Stadium during the Western Conference final against the Houston Dynamo.

For about a minute and a half last December, close to 20 supporters lit flares that cast a red glow onto them and their brethren in the standing section before billowing black smoke delayed kickoff.

Smoke wasn’t the issue. (BMO Stadium, like many MLS venues, accommodates “safe smoke,” which manifests on goals and at the start of matches with the consent of the Fire Marshal.) The incendiary nature of the flares and the way they were brought into the 22,000 seat venue was the trouble.

A few days later, MLS fined LAFC $100,000 and revoked the supporters group’s privileges for 2024.

The club, the venue and the league office established a working group that met weekly. They intended to identify anyone involved while reviewing security processes and supporter management.

The people who lit the flares were eventually ID’d or came forward. Each of them is suspended for 2024, and several, including some founding members, face lifetime bans that can be reviewed.

The club is beefing up security at the stadium on game day, particularly in the North End. And LAFC is working on a PSA about the prohibition of pyrotechnic items in the stadium.

The 3252 leadership was included in discussions emphasizing that this sort of thing violates the MLS Fan Code of Conduct and won’t be tolerated. Those sessions proved productive, and, along with putting in place measures to ensure this wouldn’t happen again, the league reinstated the 3252.

Will LAFC play in the U.S. Open Cup?

Will MLS?

It’s all a big TBD.

LAFC players have been told that the Open Cup – the oldest soccer tournament in America – is a tournament they should expect to compete in this year.

“We are preparing ourselves for MLS regular season games, U.S. Open Cup games, Leagues Cup games and playoff games,” said defensive midfielder Ilie Sanchez. “That’s what we’ve been told so far and that’s our mentality and our goals for this following season.”

Are the kids more than alright?

Erik Dueñas and Nathan Ordaz stepped up their contributions in 2023. That progression must continue as the homegrowns play alongside an influx of similarly young prospects who joined LAFC in the offseason.

Ordaz could be the early-season replacement for Vela in the middle of the LAFC attack, and he’ll need to poach and create goals to play above Tomas Angel or David Martinez.

Dueñas needs to be ready to jump into a midfield unit that could get thin quickly if it can’t avoid injury.

Did Eduard Atuesta improve after playing two years in Brazil?

El Profe thinks he is more physical than when he departed LAFC.

An injury during Atuesta’s time with Palmeiras forced the 26-year-old Colombian to live in the gym and “that was good for my body, for my legs,” he said. “Now I have a different intensity.”

Comfortable setting up attackers or playing more defensively as a 6, Atuesta offers several dimensions for Steve Cherundolo to utilize in the middle of the park.

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Should LAFC be concerned about its center backs?

The back line needed to regroup after Giorgio Chiellini’s retirement and the departure of consistent contributors. It heads into Season 7 with four center backs on the roster – Jesus Murillo, Aaron Long, Eddie Segura and Lorenzo Dellavale.

Already Dellavale, the 19-year-old Italian, took a knock and is out of the season opener with a right knee injury.

Segura is fully recovered from a torn ACL that took two surgeries to fix last year, and he missed the 2021 season with the same injury. He has to show he can be a regular contributor.

As it sets up right now, Long and Murillo should be solid after getting plenty of minutes together last year.