Saturday, October 10 | 7:30 p.m. PT
🏟 | BMO Stadium - Los Angeles, CA
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Following a lengthy FIFA international break, LAFC hosts the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night in a pivotal match with postseason implications. The match coincides with Noche LÁFC, the club’s annual celebration of Latin American culture, which will fill BMO Stadium with music, food, and special guests.
The Black & Gold sits in sixth place in the Western Conference while Vancouver leads the West, with just nine points separating the two clubs. LAFC has six games remaining in its 2026 regular-season schedule, and seeks to land a top-four finish, which would provide home-field advantage in its Round One Best-of-3 series at the start of next month’s MLS Cup playoffs.
LAFC has a new head coach (see below) and its roster will be full again following an international break that saw six members of the Black & Gold score a combined 10 goals for their countries. Son Heung-Min scored three goals for South Korea over four friendlies, becoming his home country’s all-time leading goal scorer, with 59. Jacob Shaffelburg netted two goals for Canada, and LAFC newcomer Leo Walta - who has yet to debut in Black & Gold after arriving on loan from English club Swansea last month - scored four goals for Finland.
Shaffelburg and LAFC midfielder Mathieu Choinière were joined on Team Canada by Whitecaps players Jeevan Badwal and Ralph Priso. Five other Whitecaps represented their countries during the break.
CHANGE AT THE TOP
For the first time in club history, LAFC’s coaching staff does not include a member of its first coaching staff from the club’s 2018 inaugural season. That shift came about when the club relieved Marc Dos Santos of his head coaching duties late last month and named Tamarit (pictured above, with recently signed midfielder Sergio Vásquez) as his interim replacement.
Tamarit, 44, was in his first year as an assistant with LAFC until the coaching change, and has experience in the English Premier League, Spain’s La Liga, and Argentina’s top division.
“What we want is to improve as a team, to give very simple but clear concepts in the tactical aspects, and give clear roles for each player on the pitch, to have a really clear idea and a really clear identity,” Tamarit told the media on Thursday. “We want to have our identity and don't change our identity. It doesn't matter who we are going to face. This is most important for us right now.”
LAFC’s identity will continue to include getting the ball to its two attacking stars in dangerous areas. Son’s 13 assists in MLS play are tied for the league lead, while Denis Bouanga, who scored for Gabon during the international break, has 14 MLS goals this season and is chasing the 20-goal mark for a fourth consecutive season. Since the beginning of 2023, Bouanga has scored more goals (78) than any other player in the league, including Lionel Messi (71 goals), who joined Inter Miami that year.
Half of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris’ 24 MLS starts this year have ended in clean sheets for the legendary French World Cup champion. Lloris’ 12 clean sheets are tied for the league lead, although he has achieved that total in fewer games than co-leaders Yohei Takaoka (VAN) and Brian Schwake (NSH).
“I think we all want to get back on track,” Lloris said of this week’s training following the coaching change. “We all want to get back to MLS competition, to get the right feelings back. We will see, but we know that if we perform at the level – at our level, I would say – we will be close to get a positive result against Vancouver, which is a really good team. It's hard to start this new period against an opponent like that. But we also know that we have the quality. When I look at the roster today, with all the players back from their international duties, I think we're in a good position.”
THE SERIES
These two teams met on August 1, with Son Heung-Min scoring in the first half for LAFC and Vancouver’s Thomas Müller converting a penalty kick late in the second half to secure a 1-1 draw.
No two MLS teams have met more often over the last four years, including multiple knockout matches across various competitions. In MLS regular-season play, each club has a 6W-6L-6D record against the other. LAFC owns a 4W-2L-3D advantage over the Caps in matches played at BMO Stadium, with a 25-11 edge in goals scored.
LAFC leads the all-time series 12W-7L-8D across all competitions. Last November these two locked horns in an MLS classic, when LAFC roared back from a 2-0 halftime deficit to tie the match 2-2 on a stoppage-time free kick from Son. After 30 minutes of extra time, the shorthanded Caps advanced on penalties and made it all the way to the MLS Cup final before falling to Inter Miami.
SCOUTING THE CAPS
Vancouver lost 3-1 on Tuesday night at the Chicago Fire, but remains atop the West with a record of 15W-7L-5D. The Caps are an impressive 6W-3L-3D on the road this season, but two of those away losses have come since returning from this summer’s World Cup break. Striker Brian White leads the team in goals with 17, which ranks third in MLS. White was college teammates with LAFC forward Jeremy Ebobisse at Duke University, where together they won the Blue Devils’ Co-Offensive Player of the Year award in 2015.
Vancouver is ranked second in MLS in goals scored (60) and goal differential (+31) and leverages an attack that comes from all angles, and multiple sources. Vancouver has five players with at least eight goal contributions in MLS play this year (White [17g/2a], Müller [9g/8a], Eddie Ocampo [2g/8a], Bruno Caicedo [5g/3a], and Mathias Laborda [4g/4a]]), whereas LAFC has two (Son [6g/13a] and Bouanga [14g/8a]).
LAFC WILL WIN IF
Tamarit’s new voice inspires his players to perform at LAFC’s unwavering standard.
“As players, we have to stick together and show commitment,” Lloris said. “And also we are facing the reality: a club like LAFC has to be better than that, and it's on us players to increase our level of performance. We cannot demand more from our fans. They're always at their best, so hopefully all together this weekend we can create something special on the field and get the three points.”
“I believe that we have what it takes in this group to succeed this year,” President of Soccer Operations John Thorrington said, “and I think we'll start to see that Saturday. We've also got some new players coming in that we're very excited about, some of whom made a cameo or two prior to the break. But now we have everybody.”
WHITECAPS CAN WIN IF
They keep the score close, in the most difficult road environment in MLS, and conjure up a late matchwinner. In Vancouver’s last four trips to Los Angeles across all competitions, the Caps have a record of 1W-2L-1D but have only been outscored five goals to four. Müller, the cagey Bundesliga veteran, knows how to squeeze out results, as evidenced by the late penalty he drew against LAFC in August’s 1-1 draw in Canada.
