The Los Angeles Football Club’s season-long marathon is off to a pacey start.

In the midst of eight games over 26 days coming out of the preseason, “we need everybody and everybody is taking good care of themselves,” defender Yaw Yeboah said Friday.

“It looks like the group is really happy and that is helping us a lot on the field to see everyone smiling and working for each other and being there for each other,” the Ghanaian noted. “Probably that’s the most important thing.”

Good vibes come easier, of course, with positive results.

LAFC (2-0-0, 6 points) stands out among a handful of MLS teams that have not dropped points in the league. They’re also delivering in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, putting themselves in a great spot to reach the competition’s quarterfinal round.

Focused on the now (starting strong while players ramp up to full fitness) and the then (centering players’ health and freshness, physically and mentally, for the long haul) requires a balancing act that was honed while the club played 103 matches (56-26-21) the past two years.

“You have to keep an eye on the bigger picture and general loading and less on results and advancing,” LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo said prior to his team’s third MLS regular-season matchday, a nationally televised clash with Seattle at Lumen Field.

Midfielders Igor Jesus and Timothy Tillman are considered questionable with flu-like symptoms, but Cherundolo expects to field a team that is “more than capable of coming away with points.”

Seattle has also participated in five matches, earning a point from a pair of league contests while reaching the CONCACAF Round of 16, drawing Cruz Azul 0-0 in the first leg at home Wednesday.

By beating Columbus 3-0 in the first leg of their CONCACAF Cup series this week, Cherundolo’s side allowed itself some leeway in terms of lineup options against the opponent who eliminated them in last year’s MLS Cup Western Conference semifinal at BMO Stadium.

That upset, courtesy of a Jordan Morris winner in extra time, ended an impressive 7-0-2 run in all competitions for the Black & Gold versus Seattle, conceding a trio of goals while securing six clean sheets over a three-year span. LAFC remains unbeaten in its last five matches (3-0-2) against the Sounders in the state of Washington.

The rivals’ first encounter of 2025 won’t mark the MLS debut of Turkish designated player Cengiz Ünder, though the 27-year-old playmaker arrived in Los Angeles earlier this week and participated in his first training session with the group Friday.

“Cengiz is somebody who knows how to score, knows how to be effective, is a very good winger,” Cherundolo said. “We think he can be a very good fit for our model.

“He looked fresh. I don’t think it should take long at all.”

On loan from Fenerbahçe until June 30, Ünder joined young attackers David Martínez and Nathan Ordaz, who swapped time on the wing alongside Denis Bouanga, Jeremy Ebobisse or Olivier Giroud.

LAFC’s depth and congested schedule could mean Martínez, Ordaz and Ünder get time at other positions, Cherundolo said.

Enjoying his “flow state” and good form coming out of preseason, Ordaz assisted on LAFC’s game-winning goal in the regular-season opener and scored the third against Columbus.