LAFC vs. Colorado Rapids - Concacaf Champions Cup | Round One | Leg 2
Tuesday, Feb. 25 | 7:00 p.m. PT
🏟: BMO Stadium - Los Angeles, CA
🖥: FS2, Vix
LAFC welcomes the Colorado Rapids to BMO Stadium on Tuesday night, Feb. 25, for the second and final leg of their Round One matchup in Concacaf Champions Cup 2025.
The Rapids lead the aggregate-goal series 2-1 after winning in sub-freezing temperatures in Colorado on Feb. 18.
One these two teams’ 2025 Concacaf journey will end Tuesday night. The team with the most combined (or “aggregate”) goals in the two games will advance to the Round of 16, where the Columbus Crew awaits.
TIEBREAKERS
If Colorado and LAFC are tied on aggregate goals after 90 minutes of play Tuesday night, the team with the most goals scored away from home will advance. If that “away goals” tiebreaker does not produce a winner, two 15-minute periods of extra time will be played. (Away goals will not hold any value during extra time.) If the result is still tied after the second period of extra time, a penalty shootout will decide who advances.
LEG 1 RECAP
After a scoreless first half last week at the Rapids’ icy home ground, LAFC fell behind early in the second half on a penalty kick from Colorado midfielder Djordje Mihailovic. The Rapids’ Team MVP in 2024, Mihailovic later curled a free kick into the top corner to give Colorado a 2-0 advantage. LAFC defender Aaron Long scored in the 87th minute, providing a valuable away goal in the event of a tiebreaker scenario in Tuesday night’s rematch. The goal was Long’s second ever in an LAFC shirt, and his second in his last eight games in all competitions, dating back to his strike against Sporting KC last October.
SINCE THAT NIGHT
LAFC won its MLS season opener on Saturday Feb. 22, defeating Minnesota United 1-0 at BMO Stadium. Jeremy Ebobisse, who signed with the Black & Gold as a free agent in December, scored the only goal of the game in the 78th minute. LAFC is now 8W-0L-0D all-time in season openers, an MLS record.
Colorado traveled to St. Louis and drew 0-0 with St. Louis CITY SC on Saturday night.
MOVING PARTS
Midfielder Josh Atencio, who joined the Rapids from the Seattle Sounders on Feb. 15, started the match in St. Louis on Saturday, his first ever appearance in a Colorado shirt. Atencio was the only new member of the Rapids’ starting eleven as compared to the group that manager Chris Armas put on the field against LAFC on Feb. 18.
LAFC manager Steve Cherundolo, meanwhile, rotated three players into the Black & Gold’s 1-0 weekend win over MNUFC, with forwards Olivier Giroud and Nathan Ordaz making way for Ebobisse and David Martínez, and center back Marlon starting in place of Eddie Segura. Giroud, Ordaz, and Segura all came on as substitutes against the Loons, with Ordaz providing the assist on Ebobisse’s matchwinner.
“Every player on our roster is going to see meaningful minutes this year,” Cherundolo said, “and every player on our roster is important. This is how we work at LAFC and this is the message that I try to relay to the group every single day. That's just the way it is here. We have a lot of games and we have a lot of good players.”
THE SERIES
LAFC is 7W-0L-0D all-time at home against the Rapids, across all competitions, outscoring Colorado 21-2 in those seven games.
FAMILIAR CIRCUMSTANCES
Five years ago this week – right before the world shut down due to COVID – LAFC found itself trailing Club León on aggregate goals, 2-1, headed into the second leg of their opening round Concacaf Champions Cup matchup. That second leg was played at BMO Stadium, and LAFC – which was just two years old at the time – needed to win by three goals against the 75-year-old Liga MX powerhouse in order to move on.
Two goals from Carlos Vela, followed by a looping wondergoal chipped in from the left wing by Diego Rossi, set BMO Stadium on fire, providing the necessary 3-0 victory and propelling the Black & Gold toward two more wins over Liga MX opponents on its way to the 2020 CCC Final. No American club had done that before, and no one has done it since.
WHAT IS CONCACAF CHAMPIONS CUP?
North American club soccer’s biggest prize, Concacaf Champions Cup is a 60-year-old competition that pits the 27 highest-ranked clubs in the continent against one another until a champion is crowned in June. That champion earns an invitation to the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup and 2025 FIFA Intercontinental Cup.
LAFC reached the Concacaf Champions Cup final in each of its two previous appearances, 2020 and 2023.
LAFC CAN WIN IF
The attacking confidence it gained in the second half against MNUFC spills over into Tuesday’s knockout match. “Minnesota made it challenging for us, sitting in that deep block for a lot of the game,” Ebobisse said, “but for us to get that breakthrough [goal] and then be dangerous towards the end of the game gives us the confidence that we need headed into Colorado, trying to overturn that deficit.”
THE RAPIDS CAN WIN IF
They limit the threat posed by Bouanga, who won this competition’s Golden Boot award in 2023 by scoring seven goals in leading LAFC all the way to the Final. The Rapids gave the Black & Gold winger a few feet of space in the waning minutes of last week’s first leg— and paid for it when Bouanga’s pinpoint cross found Long’s head, then the back of the hosts’ net.
The 2025 LAFC Secondary Kit
LAFC’s 2025 Secondary Kit is regal, refined, and designed to be worn by players and supporters who expect success.
