The Los Angeles Football Club scored a club record seven goals in their inaugural Leagues Cup match, defeating Liga MX side FC Juarez 7-1 on Wednesday night at BMO Stadium. Denis Bouanga scored three times and added an assist while Carlos Vela had two goals and an assist. Ryan Hollingshead opened the scoring for LAFC and Nathan Ordaz rounded out the scoring in the 90th minute with his first goal for the Club in all competitions.
In addition to being a club record, the seven goals scored by LAFC were the most by any team in Leagues Cup, eclipsing the former total of five, which had been done on three previous occasions.
With the victory, LAFC now advances to the Leagues Cup Round of 16 where they will face the winner of Thursday night’s game between Liga MX side León and Real Salt Lake. The date and time of the Round of 16 game, which will be shown live on Apple TV, will be announced at a later date.
NEWS & NOTES
- LAFC set a new club record with seven goals, eclipsing its previous record of six, which it had done on three occasions. The six-goal margin of victory tied a club record, equaling a mark that was set on September 23, 2020 when they beat Vancouver 6-0.
- The seven goals were the most by any team in Leagues Cup. The previous record was five, which had been done three times during the Group Stage.
- Leagues Cup is the fourth different competition that LAFC has played in this season along with the MLS Regular Season, Concacaf Champions League, and U.S. Open Cup. The club won its first game in each of those competitions this year, outscoring opponents 15-5.
- This was LAFC’s first game in all competitions since July 15, a span of 18 days. In the 18 days prior to that break, LAFC played six games.
- Denis Bouanga became the fifth player to record a hat trick in Leagues Cup this year. He joins Monterrey’s German Berterame as the only player in the tournament to score a hat trick and register an assist in the same game.
- Bouanga also scored a hat trick in his Concacaf Champions League debut on March 9 against Alajuelense.
- Bounaga now has 22 goals in all competitions this season, registering a hat trick in MLS, Concacaf Champions League, and Leagues Cup. He has appeared in 29 games for LAFC this year and he had scored or assisted on 30 goals in that time.
- Carlos Vela had two goals and an assist for LAFC in the win. This was his third multi-goal game of the year and the first time he had two goals and an assist since the 3-2 win over the LA Galaxy on April 16.
- Vela has now scored a goal in three straight games in all competitions, having also scored against St. Louis CITY and Minnesota before the start of Leagues Cup. This was the first time that he has scored in three straight appearances late in the 2022 season.
- Vela’s three multi-goal games this season have come in three separate competitions, having scored twice against the Galaxy on April 16 and twice against Vancouver five days earlier in the Champions League.
- Ryan Hollingshead opened the scoring in the 31st minute. That was his second goal of the season in all competitions and first, since April 16 when he tallied against the Galaxy.
- Nathan Ordaz scored his first goal in all competitions with a 90th minute strike. He is the second former LAFC Academy/Homegrown player to score a goal for LAFC, joining Christian Torres.
- Ordaz now has a goal and an assist in his last two games at BMO Stadium.
- Sergi Palencia came off the bench in the 75th minute to replace Ryan Hollingshead. That was his first appearance since being injured in the second leg of the Concacaf Champions League Final on June 4.
- John McCarthy finished the game with four saves.
- LAFC is now 14-0-3 this year when scoring first.
- LAFC is now 4-4-0 when facing Liga MX teams in official competitions.
