LAFC played Real Salt Lake to a 2-2 draw at America First Field in Sandy, Utah, on Saturday night. The road point kept LAFC within the top four of the Western Conference standings with 10 matches left in its MLS regular-season schedule.
In a departure from LAFC’s recent 4-3-3 starting formation, head coach Marc Dos Santos began the match with a three-man back line of Yevhen Cheberko, Nkosi Tafari, and Aaron Long, with Jacob Shaffelburg and Ryan Hollingshead slotted in as wingbacks. The setup allowed Real Salt Lake to maintain early spells of possession, but it was LAFC who began the scoring in the 14th minute when Denis Bouanga ran down a long ball from Son Heung-Min, cut inside past RSL defender Philip Quinton, and curled a right-footer into the top corner to give LAFC a 1-0 lead.
RSL responded in the 18th minute when a loose ball atop the LAFC area trickled onto the right foot of Saba Lobjanidze, whose finish tied the match at one goal apiece.
In the 38th minute, LAFC regained the lead when another long pass in transition, this one from Tyler Boyd, found Bouanga in the 18-yard box. Bouanga’s cutback pass to Son was finished first-time by the Korean star to put LAFC ahead 2-1. A 41st-minute save by Hugo Lloris on a point blank redirection from Lukas Engel maintained LAFC’s 2-1 lead at halftime. Â
Lloris saved a 54th-minute deflected shot by Luca Moisa and made a 58th-minute save against Noel Caliskan to keep LAFC’s one-goal advantage. His diving parry in the 75th minute, however, fell at the feet of Caliskan, who scored to tie the match, 2-2.
Son appeared certain to score the matchwinner on a breakaway in the 87th minute, but after he rounded goalkeeper Rafa Cabral and drove his shot inside the near post, sliding defender DeAndre Yedlin booted it away at the last second to solidify the draw.
LAFC returns to BMO Stadium on Wednesday, Sept. 9, when the Black & Gold hosts New York Red Bulls. The action gets underway at 7:30 p.m. PT and will be broadcast on Apple TV, as well as Coupang Play and SPOTV for fans in Korea. Local radio coverage will be available on 710 AM ESPN, the ESPN LA app, KYPA 1230 AM (Korean), and 980 AM La Mera Mera (Spanish).
NOTES
- With the result, LAFC is now 10W-7L-7D for 37 points this season and 16W-8L-11D in all competitions.
- The two goals and two assists that Bouanga and Son tallied in the first half gave them 18 combined goal contributions (12 goals, 6 assists) in their last four matches against RSL, dating back to September 2025.
- Forward Armindo Sieb, recently acquired from Bayern Munich, made his LAFC and MLS debut on Saturday night, coming on for Tyler Boyd in the 82nd minute.
