LAFC defeated Pachuca 4-2 in a penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw in regulation of the club’s second match of the 2025 Leagues Cup. By winning the shootout, LAFC earns two points, giving it three points heading into its final match of Phase One competition next week. The top four MLS sides and the top four Liga MX sides will advance to the Leagues Cup quarterfinals.
Denis Bouanga, the all-time leading scorer in Leagues Cup, gave LAFC a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute with his first goal of the competition this year. Mark Delgado won the ball near midfield and quickly played a pass forward to the feet of Nathan Ordaz. Ordaz played the ball out to Bouanga on the left wing, and he cut inside onto his right foot before hitting his shot past Pachuca goalkeeper Carlos Moreno at the near post.
LAFC was reduced to 10 men in the 29th minute when, following a video review, Ordaz was shown a red card for a foul off the ball.
Three minutes later, Pachuca were level when Elías Montiel’s low, left-footed shot from the edge of the area snuck inside the post and past the dive of LAFC goalkeeper Thomas Hasal, tying the score at 1-1.
Pachuca were reduced to 10 men in the 83rd minute when Jhonder Cádiz was sent off for a foul on Nkosi Tafari. Six minutes later, LAFC looked to have scored a winner, only for Delgado to be flagged offside after deflecting a Bouanga cross into the net, leaving the game tied 1-1 and sending the match to a shootout.
In the shootout, Hasal saved two penalties while Bouanga, Delgado, Sergi Palencia, and Eddie Segura each scored theirs to give LAFC the shootout win and two points.
LAFC will close out Phase One of Leagues Cup on Tuesday, August 5 when the club takes on Liga MX club Tigres at BMO Stadium. That game is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. PT and can be seen live on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, with radio coverage available on 710 AM ESPN, the ESPN LA app, and 980 AM La Mera Mera.
NOTES
- With the draw in regulation, LAFC is now 7-2-3 all-time in Leagues Cup, including 2-1-2 against Liga MX opposition.
- This was LAFC’s first shootout win in Leagues Cup, having lost on penalties to Mazatlán on Tuesday night and in the Group Stage of the 2024 Leagues Cup against Vancouver.
- In 13 games against Liga MX clubs in Leagues Cup, the Concacaf Champions Cup, Campeones Cup and FIFA Club World Cup Play-In Game, LAFC is 6-5-3.
- LAFC is now 12-3-4 at home in all competitions this year. The club is now 0-0-2 in Leagues Cup, in addition to home records of 3-0-0 in the Concacaf Champions Cup and 8-3-2 in the MLS Regular Season, as well as winning the FIFA Club World Cup Play-In Game against Club América.
- For the second consecutive game, LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo made seven changes to his starting lineup with Thomas Hasal, Ryan Hollingshead, Sergi Palencia, Mark Delgado, Igor Jesus, Denis Bouanga and Nathan Ordaz all coming into the lineup. Palencia, Delgado, Jesus, Bouanga, and Ordaz all came off the bench in the opening game of the competition against Mazatlán on Tuesday night while Hasal and Hollingshead were unused substitutes.
- Denis Bouanga scored LAFC’s only goal of the game, giving him 88 goals in all competitions for the club. He is now five goals shy of tying Carlos Vela for the most goals in club history.
- Bouanga is the all-time leading scorer in Leagues Cup with 13 goals in the competition. He scored six times in the competition in both 2023 and 2024.
- With his first-half goal, Bouanga has now scored in 15 of the 16 different competitions that he has appeared in for LAFC. After signing with the club in August 2022, Bouanga scored in the MLS Regular Season and the MLS Cup Playoffs. The following year, he scored in the regular season and postseason, as well as the Concacaf Champions League and Leagues Cup. In 2024, Bouanga scored in the regular season, postseason, Leagues Cup and the U.S. Open Cup. This year, Bouanga has scored in the regular season, Concacaf Champions Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup Play-In Game, the FIFA Club World Cup and now Leagues Cup. The only competition that Bouanga did not score in was the 2023 Campeones Cup against Tigres, which finished 0-0, though he did convert his penalty in that match’s shootout.
- Nathan Ordaz was credited with the lone assist on Bouanga’s goal. That was his first-ever Leagues Cup assist.
- Ordaz was sent off in the 29th minute. He is the first LAFC player ever to be sent off in Leagues Cup.
- In the second half, Pachuca’s Jhonder Cádiz was sent off for a foul on Nkosi Tafari, becoming the first player to be shown a red card against LAFC in Leagues Cup.
- Thomas Hasal, who made his Leagues Cup debut in the game, saved two penalties in the shootout for LAFC.
- Hasal was one of two players to make their LAFC Leagues Cup debut in the game, joining Ryan Raposo, who came on in the 87th minute.
- Bouanga and Palencia remain the only two players to have appeared in all 12 Leagues Cup games in LAFC history.
