Sunday, Nov. 2 | 5:45 p.m. PT
🏟 | Q2 Stadium - Austin, TX
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With the Western Conference Semifinals in its sights, LAFC heads to Austin, Texas, for Game 2 of its Best-of-3 series with Austin FC in Round One of the Audi 2025 MLS Cup Playoffs.
The Black & Gold holds a 1-0 lead in the series following its 2-1 win in Los Angeles on Wednesday night. With a victory at Q2 Stadium on Sunday LAFC can avoid a Game 3 and would advance to the conference semifinals for the fourth straight season.
“We can't rely on having a third game,” midfielder Timmy Tillman said following training on Friday. “We always want to win every single game, so that's what we will try to do. There's no other thought on our minds.”
GAME 1 REVIEW
Wednesday’s 2-1 victory at BMO Stadium went the way most experts predicted it would, with sixth-seeded Austin waging a defensive strategy on the road and third-seeded LAFC trying to break through the visitors’ low block. Ryan Hollingshead’s deflected shot on goal slipped past Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver for the breakthrough goal in the 20th minute and was followed by several more LAFC chances until Jon Gallagher equalized for Austin in the 63rd minute following a failed clearance in front of LAFC’s goal.
Gallagher’s tally was one of just two shots on goal registered by Austin, who conceded the matchwinner in the 79th minute after an attack spearheaded by Son Heung-Min and Denis Bouanga was tapped in by second-half substitute Nathan Ordaz to seal LAFC’s 2-1 win.
“I was not happy with some too-deep defending at times,” Cherundolo said after Game 1. “They were applying pressure, dumping balls in the box. There could be balls that you don't clear, second balls, handballs, all those things happen. That's a little unnecessary to me, and it comes when you don't get enough pressure on the ball, and when you're just dropping and dropping and dropping. That's what Sunday will look like.”
The Game 1 win marked the first time that Son and Bouanga had appeared in a game together without at least one of them scoring a goal – snapping a streak of eight such outings in which one of them found the net. (The last time they went goalless was a 2-0 win on August 16 in New England.)
“Without finishing plays tonight, the two of them were still dangerous and created a lot of dangerous moments,” Cherundolo said. “They attract attention, which allows us to get maybe Timmy [Tillman] more in the attack, both wingbacks found spots in the box, Ryan set up the first goal. Marky [Delgado] had a couple of moments in the box. It allows us to get other players in the box too, and that's what you need to break down a deep block.”
SON THE PLAYMAKER
Of LAFC’s five shots on target in Game 1, two came from Son, the star forward who transferred to LAFC from England’s Tottenham Hotspur in early August. Those two shots on goal – in the 30th and 65th minute – did not find the net, but Son’s impact was felt elsewhere.
He registered eight key passes and three crosses in Game 1, both team highs. (A key pass is a pass that precedes a teammate taking a shot.) Son also contributed eight corner kicks, most of which proved dangerous and which far outnumbered the one corner kick Austin attempted on the night. Son also drew a team-high three fouls.
“He held up the ball well for us tonight,” Cherundolo said of Son, the second-leading assist provider in Tottenham history. “I think he connected our midfield and our attack. If we aren't getting him in positions to score, then I'm a little more worried, but he got a really good look tonight, maybe two, and that's fine. I think his ability to hold up a ball for us and find the right pass, to manage the tempo of a game or an attack is really important. We rely on his intelligence in those moments.”
In just 10 regular-season appearances for LAFC (nine starts), Son recorded 35 key passes, fourth-most on the team over the entire season.
LAFC IN TEXAS
LAFC has a record of 3W-2L-1D at Q2 stadium since Austin’s inaugural MLS season (2021), but the Black & Gold hasn’t won there since October 2023.
Since the beginning of LAFC’s 2022 season, the club has struggled to earn results when playing in the Lone Star State, going 1W-8L-3D in road matches against Western Conference foes Austin FC, FC Dallas, and Houston Dynamo. In 11 of those 12 games, LAFC scored one or zero goals, including five shutouts. In all, the Black & Gold has a goal differential of minus-13 in MLS matches played in Texas since the start of the ’22 season (10 goals scored, 23 conceded).
“It's always super hard to play in Austin,” Tillman said. “I don't know what the weather is going to be like, but they have a good crowd, they have a good field, they have a lot of confidence playing at home. We will have to be ready for a good game, a good fight. It's playoff time, so it's a very important one, and it's their last chance.”
LAFC’s most recent regular-season win in Austin came on October 7, 2023, when an early Tillman goal and two from Denis Bouanga led LAFC to a 4-2 win at Q2 Stadium.
On October 12 of this year, Austin defeated LAFC 1-0 at home in 90-degree heat.
Sunday’s weather forecast calls for highs in the mid-70s with 50 percent humidity.
KEEPING IT 100
Bouanga sits one goal away from reaching 100 goals scored for LAFC across all competitions. Six of Bouanga’s 99 goals have been scored against Austin—all of them with Stuver in goal. Three came during a memorable hat trick at BMO Stadium in April 2023. Bouanga’s last goal against Austin came in August of last year (2024) in a Leagues Cup Round-of-32 match that LAFC won 2-0.
AUSTIN CAN WIN IF
The defensive grit that has defined the club this season shows up on its home turf. Austin won just seven of its 17 home matches in the regular season (7W-3L-7D), scoring 18 goals at Q2 Stadium (1.06 per game), fewer than any other Western Conference club scored at home. They made up the difference with their defending. The Verde conceded just 17 times at home, the second-lowest total in the West (behind LAFC’s 13).
“They're really organized defensively,” Ordaz said. “They don't give a lot of space for us to play in the middle and go at them. A lot of our attacks are based off momentum and they just kind of try and stay as organized and secure as possible.”
“They're stingy with what they give up,” Hollingshead agreed. "They love being in the low block. They're so comfortable being there.”
LAFC CAN WIN IF
It summons the fortitude that carried the club to an MLS-best 11-game unbeaten streak on the road in the regular season. The Black & Gold came within one result of tying the all-time league record of 12 straight unbeaten road matches (set by FC Dallas in 2010). The result that ended that streak was LAFC’s 1-0 loss in Austin three weekends ago. LAFC’s most recent road loss prior to that came ... in Texas, when Houston got past LAFC 1-0 on April 5.
“When you boil it down, three or four games is what it takes to get to MLS Cup,” Hollingshead said after Game 1. "We feel very confident we can go anywhere and win on the road and do what we need to do. Playoff football is just different, man. There's just something about it. It doesn't matter where you are. We'll bring our best, and I think LAFC at its best is a team that nobody wants to see.”
