LAFC returned to MLS play for the first time in three weeks and suffered a 1-0 loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps at BMO Stadium on Sunday night. Playing its first league game since June 8 because of the club’s involvement in the FIFA Club World Cup, LAFC outshot the Whitecaps 15-5, including a 4-1 advantage in shots on target, but were unable to find a breakthrough against the visitors.
The match served as the final game in an LAFC shirt for Olivier Giroud, with the World Cup-winning forward and the club mutually agreeing to part ways in a decision that was announced on Friday.
The only goal of the game came in the 20th minute when Emmanuel Sabbi raced into the box and got on the end of a Jeevan Badwal cross before sliding a right-footed shot past LAFC goalkeeper David Ochoa from close range to give Vancouver a 1-0 lead and the full three points.
With the loss, which snaps the club’s nine-game unbeaten streak in MLS play, LAFC is now 7-5-5 on the season for 26 points.
The club will be back in action on Saturday, July 5, when it takes on Austin FC at Q2 Stadium in the Texas capitol. That game is scheduled to kick off at 5:30 p.m. PT and can be seen live on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, 710 AM ESPN, the ESPN LA app, and 980 AM La Mera Mera.
NOTES
- The loss snaps LAFC’s nine-game MLS unbeaten streak. The club had been 4-0-5 in league play since April 9 coming into tonight’s game.
- LAFC is now 10-2-1 at home in all competitions this year. Both of those defeats have come in league play. LAFC has never lost more than four home games in a single season.
- Since debuting in MLS in 2018, LAFC has only ever lost 17 home regular-season games.
- Vancouver’s win snapped a five-game losing streak at BMO Stadium. Prior to tonight, the Whitecaps had not beaten LAFC in Los Angeles since June 2023.
- Olivier Giroud played his final game for the club, starting and playing 60 minutes up front. He had a game-high four shots, one of which was on target, before being replaced by Nathan Ordaz.
- David Ochoa made his LAFC debut in the game, starting in place of the injured Hugo Lloris. This was his first MLS appearance since playing nine times for D.C. United in 2023.
- Ochoa played 20 times for LAFC2 last season and has started one game for the club this year.
- Javariô Dirosun made his MLS debut in the game.
- Nathan Ordaz came on in the second half to make his 50th league appearance for LAFC. That is the most of any LAFC Academy graduate.
- This was just the third time that LAFC has been shutout this season, with two of those instances coming in 1-0 home defeats.
- Denis Bouanga, who led MLS in shots (78) and was second in shots on target (36) coming into the game, finished with three shots and one on target. In regular-season games that he started this season, Bouanga has finished with less than three shots just twice and has recorded at least one shot on goal in all but two games as well.
- Tonight’s game was just the third regular-season game that Hugo Lloris has missed since signing with the club ahead of the 2024 season. LAFC is now 0-3-0 in those three matches.
