LAFC defeated the Seattle Sounders Saturday night at Lumen Field in Seattle, 3-0, behind a brace from Denis Bouanga.
The scoring began following an early scrum in front of Seattle’s goal in which Sounders defender Nouhou Tolo played the ball with his hand as it trickled toward the goal line. LAFC’s Denis Bouanga drove the ensuing penalty kick past Sounders keeper Stefan Frei in the 16th minute to put the Black & Gold ahead, 1-0.
Nine minutes later, LAFC was awarded a free kick near the touchline 35 yards from goal. Eduard’s Atuesta’s arcing effort was cleared by Seattle, but only as far as LAFC’s Mateusz Bogusz, who volleyed it with his right foot past an off-his-line Frei to make the score 2-0.
The home side came out after halftime on the front foot, with LAFC ceding possession. However, a lightning-fast LAFC counterattack in the 74th minute, keyed by a pivotal pass from second-half substitute Kei Kamara, placed the ball at Bouanga’s feet again as he sprinted toward goal. Bouanga's finish sealed the three points for LAFC and gave him his 16th MLS goal of the season, one off the Golden Boot pace set by league leader Chicho Arango of Real Salt Lake.
Three brilliant saves by All Star goalie Hugo Lloris in the waning moments preserved the clean sheet for LAFC, Lloris’ ninth of the season.
The victory kept LAFC (14W-5L-5D) in second place in the Western Conference, and maintained their fourth-place position in the Supporters’ Shield standings, six points behind Shield leaders Inter Miami.
LAFC will next take the pitch at home on Friday night, July 26, against Liga MX side Club Tijuana, in both clubs’ Leagues Cup opener.
NEWS & NOTES
- LAFC is now 6-0-2 in its last eight meetings with the Sounders in all competitions.
- These same two teams will meet once more this year in the semifinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on Tuesday, August 27.
- LAFC has 47 points on the season and is currently fourth in the race for the Supporters’ Shield behind Inter Miami (53), the LA Galaxy (49) and FC Cincinnati (48).
- LAFC is now 5-0-1 in its last six MLS road games.
- LAFC’s five regular-season road wins are one more than it recorded in all of 2023.
- Hugo Lloris finished the game with four saves. In two games against the Sounders this season, Lloris has registered 10 saves and conceded just a single goal, which came from a penalty kick.
- Denis Bouanga is now 7-for-7 from the penalty spot this season and 10-for-10 in the regular season since joining LAFC late in the 2022 season.
- After scoring from the penalty spot in the first half of the match, Bouanga became the first player in LAFC history to score at least 15 goals in consecutive seasons.
- This was Bouanga’s 16th multi-goal game in all competitions since signing with LAFC in August 2022.
- Bogusz now has 15 goal contributions (10 goals and five assists) in his last 13 MLS games, with LAFC going 10-1-2 in that time.
- Bouanga and Bogusz have combined to score 29 of LAFC’s 48 goals this season. Real Salt Lake’s Cristian Arango and Andrés Gómez are the only teammates with more than 29 goals this season, tallying 30.
- Sergi Palencia was credited with his fourth assist of the season on Bouanga’s second-half goal. He now has four on the season and is tied with Eduard Atuesta for fourth on the team.
- Kei Kamara also collected an assist on that goal, giving him three since joining the club in March.
- Heading into the 2024 Leagues Cup, LAFC has played 24 regular-season games. Bogusz, Bouanga and Lloris are the only three players to have appeared in all of those matches, starting all 24 matches.
