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BMO Stadium has been packed and sold out for most of the season, but since the addition of Son Heung-Min, tickets have been hard to come by. LAFC has been on the road a lot over the past month and half, but a return back home was past due.
It was a big night, LAFC had a special celebration for team icon Carlos Vela. The first LAFC signings and club captain was on hand pre-match for the celebration and was there for the game to cheer on LAFC.
Four days since their meeting with Real Salt Lake in Salt Lake City, Utah, they followed LAFC to Los Angeles for a rematch in this odd scheduling quirk. Real Salt Lake was dominated at home this past Wednesday night by LAFC, in a night where Son had a hat trick. RSL had to be seeking revenge.
RSL came out on the attack early. Showing urgency from the start and it paid off in the 14th minute. Brian Vega found the ball and space in at the top of the box and fired a missile to the back corner of the net past the diving Hugo Lloris, who had no shot stopping that ball. RSL on top 1-0.
Great start by RSL. They already look better in the first fifteen minutes then they did entire last game. LA needs to respond. After the RSL goal, LA began to gather more possession and push in the attack.
You could just sense an LAFC goal was coming. Quality chances and shots on target. Credit RSL keeper for saving a rocket from Sonny with an incredible diving one handed punch out. A couple more shots went just wide of the goal.
LA was determined to level the game before halftime, and they did. Right into stoppage time Denis Bouanga and Son had a give-and-go where Son feeds Bouanga with a pretty pass into the box and Denis does what he does best, score goals. LAFC even the game at 1-1. But, they weren’t done.
Two minutes later David Martinez fed Son who ripped a left-footed rocket that ricochet off the post and past Salt Lake goalkeeper Rafael Cabral. Phenomenal goal for the Korean superstar. Just like that, LAFC went from trailing to taking a 2-1 lead into halftime.
A fantastic and productive final minutes of first half stoppage time for LA. Cabral was standing his ground until stoppage time, but LAFC overcame his first half heroics.
LAFC continued putting the pressure on RSL in the second half. It was a matter of time before they would add another one and close this game out. In the 73rd that moment came. Andrew Moran, making his LAFC home debut, connected with Son who found Bouanga again, who came free up the middle and chipped a beauty over Cabral and into the back of the net for a 3-1 Los Angeles lead.
That goes seemed to be the nail on the coffin for RSL. They just seemed out of it and frustration ran high. Diego Luna got into an altercation knocking down Sergi Palencia. Tempers were running high.
The frustration and charged up tempers from RSL didn’t seem to faze LA and Bouanga. As the 90th minute approached, there goes that man again, Denis Bouanga, who completes the hat trick! His second hat trick in a span of two weeks. Amazing record setting feat. The game would end at 4-1. Second half domination by LAFC.
Back-to-back wins for LAFC over RSL in a few days span. LA has been collecting points and moving up in the standings, trying to lock down home field advantage for the playoffs. Bouanga has been electric since Son arrived. They one-two combination is unstoppable. Fantastic chemistry together since day one.
NOTES:
- With the win, LAFC has won three consecutive games and is now 14-7-8 on the season for 50 points, including a 9-4-2 mark at home.
- This is the sixth time in eight seasons in MLS that LAFC has recorded 50 or more points.
- With Denis Bouanga’s hat trick, LAFC became the first team in MLS history to have a player record a hat trick in three consecutive games. Bouanga scored three times against San Jose on September 13, while Son recorded the first hat trick of his MLS career on September 17. Since the start of MLS in 1996, a team has recorded hat tricks in consecutive games just 10 times, but it had never been done in three straight games until tonight.
- Bouanga’s hat trick was his fourth in MLS, moving him past Carlos Vela for the most regular-season hat tricks in LAFC history.
- Bouanga and Son have combined to score the last 14 LAFC goals, dating back to the 1-1 draw with FC Dallas on August 23. Bouanga has eight goals in that time while Son has six.
- Since making his MLS debut in Chicago on August 9, Son has scored six goals and added three assists, meaning that he has factored in half of the 18 goals LAFC has scored in that time. The club is 4-1-2 in those seven matches, with just two of them being played at BMO Stadium.
- In all competitions this year, LAFC is 14-4-4 at BMO Stadium.
- LAFC has scored four goals in each of its last three games for a total of 12 goals in that time. This is the first time that LAFC has scored four goals or more in three consecutive games, and it is the second-most goals that the club has scored in a three-game span. In the 2019 season, LAFC scored 14 times in a three-game span in July of that year, in wins over Sporting Kansas City, Vancouver, and Houston. Like LAFC’s current goal-scoring form, two of those three games were on the road.
- This is the first time that LAFC has ever scored four or more goals in three consecutive league games.
- This was the second and final meeting of the season between LAFC and RSL, with LAFC winning each contest by identical 4-1 margins.
- Bouanga, who leads MLS in shots and shots on target, is now tied for the MLS Golden Boot lead with 22 regular-season goals. Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi also has 22 goals, while Sam Surridge of Nashville SC is third with 21 tallies.
- Bouanga is the first player in MLS history to score 20 or more goals in three consecutive seasons, tallying 20 goals in 2023 and 2024 before setting a new MLS-career-high with 22 so far this season.
- David Martínez was credited with an assist on Son’s game-winning goal in first-half stoppage time. That was his fourth assist of the season and third in the last four games.
- Andrew Moran, who made his MLS debut at San Jose on September 13, made his home debut for LAFC on the night, entering the game in the 70th minute. He collected the first assist of his MLS career three minutes later on Bouanga’s second goal of the night.
- Jeremy Ebobisse came on in the 85th minute to replace Son and was credited with an assist, his first of the season, on Bouanga’s third goal of the night. This was his first appearance in the league since July 25, and his first in all competitions since being injured against Tigres in the Leagues Cup on August 5.
- Making the 60th regular-season appearance of his MLS career, LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris made three saves to earn the victory. He is now one win shy of equalling Tyler Miller’s club record of 34 regular-season victories. Lloris is also one appearance shy of tying Miller’s club record of 61 games played in goal.
- Tonight’s win was the 99th win of Steve Cherundolo’s LAFC managerial career.
LAFC is back in action on Saturday, September 27 when the team travels east to take on St. Louis CITY. 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
