LAFC dropped a 2-1 road result to St. Louis CITY SC on Wednesday night. David MartÃnez scored midway through the second half, but the Black & Gold was unable to complete the comeback against its Western Conference opponent.
In the fourth minute, Tomas Totland gave the home side an early lead when he tapped home Eduard Löwen’s low cross to the back post for the 1-0 advantage. The sides traded chances throughout the rest of the half with the Black & Gold slowly wresting control of the game. In the final 10 minutes before the break, LAFC carved out multiple chances to draw even, only to see opportunities for Ryan Raposo and Nkosi Tafari flash over the crossbar.
Midway through the second half, St. Louis capitalized on a counter-attack when Rafael Santos collected a loose ball in the box and fired home through traffic to make it 2-0 in the 64th minute.
LAFC head coach Marc Dos Santos began shuffling his deck soon thereafter, bringing on attacker David MartÃnez for Tyler Boyd in the 70th minute. Three minutes later, Tafari found a streaking MartÃnez with a long ball over the top of CITY SC’s defense, and the young Venezuelan lifted a one-touch shot over the onrushing goalkeeper to bring the Black & Gold back into the match at 2-1.
Three more attacking subs, Jacob Shaffelburg, Stephen Eustáquio, and Nathan Ordaz entered the match for LAFC in the 77th minute and helped continue to tilt the field in the visitors’ favor. The pressure nearly paid dividends in the 81st minute when a MartÃnez blast from distance was redirected by Aaron Long but St. Louis goalkeeper Roman Bürki made a terrific reaction save to preserve the final 2-1 scoreline and St. Louis' first ever win over the Black & Gold in eight all-time meetings.Â
LAFC continues its two-game mid-west road swing with a marquee Sunday Night Soccer presented by Continental Tire clash against Eastern Conference leaders Nashville SC on May 17. Kickoff from GEODIS Park is scheduled for 5 p.m. PT, and the match 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 LA, the ESPN App (English), 980 AM La Mera Mera (Spanish), and K-Radio 1230 AM (Korean), with national availability on SiriusXM FC 157 and SiriusXM Soccer en Español 1999.
NOTES
- With the loss, LAFC is now 6W-4L-3D for 21 points this season and 11-5-5 in all competitions.
- LAFC is now 5W-1L-2D all-time against St. Louis. Wednesday's loss was LAFC’s first to CITY SC since St. Louis entered MLS in 2023.
- The last time LAFC suffered three consecutive losses was more than a year ago, when the team dropped three straight games across MLS regular-season and Concacaf Champions Cup play from March 8-15, 2025.
- The goal for MartÃnez was his fourth of the regular season and eighth across all competitions.
- With his assist on LAFC’s goal, Nkosi Tafari logged his first regular-season assist of 2026 and seventh of his MLS career. He notched one assist for LAFC in 2025.
- Midfielder Mark Delgado made the 355th regular-season appearance of his career tonight, playing all 90 minutes. He is now two games away from reaching the top 25 all-time among all MLS players.
- Midfielder Timothy Tillman made his 99th regular-season appearance for LAFC, playing 77 minutes. He made his debut for the Black & Gold as a substitute in a 3-2 win against the Portland Timbers on March 4, 2023, and recently re-signed with the club through 2028.
