Like a Final in May | How LAFC “got the vibes going again” before the World Cup

When can an MLS regular-season game in May feel like a final?

It can when LAFC hosts the Seattle Sounders at BMO Stadium in both clubs’ last match of a condensed spring calendar. The Sounders, after all, are LAFC's second fiercest rival - the two sides having earned more wins than anyone else in the Western Conference over the nine years since the Black & Gold joined the league. A May match can feel like a final when the two adversaries stand in the top half of the Western Conference table, with both clubs eager to make a statement before taking a six-week break for the FIFA World Cup.

Adding to the high stakes, Seattle and LAFC were in dodgy form, with LAFC on a rare three-game MLS losing streak and a five-game winless streak in all competitions—unfamiliar territory for MLS’ winningest club over the last decade.

“Look, I've been in this football world a long time,” Son Heung-Min said two days before the match, “so I know how it works … We are still in a learning process. I think it's not bad sometimes to get hit, and then to learn something … so let's see if we can [respond] before the break, get a good result, and then get the vibes going again. ”

There were significant obstacles in the way. Sunday night’s rivalry match was LAFC’s 23rd of the year in all competitions – more matches than any other team in MLS, and six more matches than Seattle had played. And LAFC’s weary legs were facing the best defense in MLS.

Finals, however, aren’t supposed to be easy.

“Just look at this year,” head coach Marc Dos Santos said Friday. "Miami at the Coliseum. Toluca—two matches. Cruz Azul—two matches. That is what it means to be at LAFC. Playing our final match against Seattle, there couldn't be a better opponent.

"If you don't want to be involved in that kind of environment, then you shouldn't coach LAFC. I could name plenty of other clubs you could coach where things are much more laid-back. Here, it’s a high-level environment, and you have to be ready for that.”

EARLY MOMENTS

Son, who next month will compete in his fourth World Cup for South Korea, started Sunday’s match on the front foot, finding dangerous spaces close to goal and firing two shots in the first six-and-a-half minutes.

With LAFC controlling possession, goalkeeper Thomas Hasal, starting in place of the resting Hugo Lloris, did not have much to do until a Seattle through ball rolled into the path of striker Jordan Morris in the 30th minute.

“We work a lot on our position, kind of being ready to come out,” Hasal explained about his sprint toward the onrushing Morris and his save with an extended left arm. “As the ball gets played into the midfield you can see the space, you can see the line, you can kind of see the play develop behind the defender and the ball gets played through … you're coming out just trying to make the angle a bit tougher for Jordan and then spreading, making yourself big, trying to limit his opportunity as much as you can. Fortunately I was able to make the save and then had my defenders clean up. ”

One of those defenders, centerback Ryan Porteous, came forward in the 38th minute and drove a ball into the six-yard box that a leaping Son redirected just wide. The LAFC attacks continued with a Denis Bouanga shot in the 42nd minute that fizzed just over the crossbar. Son sent another screamer past the post — his fifth shot during a first half in which he ran 3.1 miles and in which LAFC outshot Seattle 12-4 and held 58 percent possession.

MICROCOSM OF THE SEASON

The second half played out differently, with LAFC registering no shots on target through the first 30 minutes. Playing with patience, the Black & Gold’s best chance of the match to that point came in the 77th, through a rapid build-up in transition, when Mark Delgado, making his 357th MLS regular-season appearance (25th all-time), found Son alone at the top of the 18. Son’s right-footed blast appeared destined for the bottom corner but was pushed away by Sounders goalkeeper Andrew Thomas at full stretch.

That shot, and the match overall, had come to resemble the Black & Gold’s season thus far: a strong start, marked by unrelenting defense and a valiant push toward glory in the Concacaf Champions Cup Semifinals. Son’s shot in the 77th minute represented LAFC’s defeat to Toluca in that Semifinal, a debilitating blow when victory was within reach. Sunday's capacity crowd could only hope that the Black & Gold would rise once again.

U.S. INTERNATIONALS COMBINE

Players on both sides were wearing one-of-a-kind jerseys on Sunday night, with custom numbers showcasing the flags of all 48 competing nations in this summer’s FIFA World Cup, set to kick off in less than three weeks. LAFC forward Tyler Boyd, who has earned ten caps for the U.S. senior team, entered in the 79th minute, joining starting midfielders and fellow USMNT veterans Tim Tillman, who played for the U.S. during World Cup qualifying in 2025, and Mark Delgado, who had worn the Stars & Stripes from the U-17 through senior-team levels.

Those three would combine deep in Seattle’s half to provide the matchwinner, as Delgado tapped a pass toward Boyd on the right wing that the winger crossed in front of Seattle’s goal mouth. Tillman, making his 150th appearance for LAFC in all competitions, met Boyd’s cross with a sliding one-touch finish after outrunning a Seattle defender to the far post. The sense of elation mixed with relief was palpable throughout the building, provided by Tillman's inspired run. “It’s important to arrive late in the box,” Tillman said, “to have numbers in general arriving in the box, to [increase] the chance of scoring a goal. I'm super happy to help the team that way. ”

“Our goal was a really good goal,” Dos Santos said. “Really good ball from Tyler Boyd, very good delivery, and then we arrived in the box. [When] players run in the box, you get rewarded when that happens, and I think that overall we deserved the win. We were unfortunate in coming out of the trip to St. Louis and Nashville with zero [points]. But today, good mentality, good way to answer, and good way to finish before the break.”

LAFC would have to endure a few late corner kicks from Seattle before the final whistle that marked the end of this rare final in May. The Black & Gold’s next match – a derby clash against the Galaxy on July 17 – will also feel like a final. But that’s eight weeks away, with the biggest sporting event in world history in between. Now is the time to take a deep breath and decompress.

“I didn't speak much in the locker room because there were a lot of families, kids,” Dos Santos said. “I just wanted them to enjoy the win. We took the team picture and tomorrow I'll message them: number one, I want everyone to enjoy their families. Enjoy the people you love, get away from the game because it's going to be so condensed again when we come back. So take the time to breathe, to get out. I want the players at the World Cup to achieve all their dreams. I wear the jerseys of all the players that we have that are in the World Cup. I want them to do well. ”

Tillman and Dos Santos were both with LAFC in 2023, during a post-Concacaf malaise that saw the club get shut out in three straight MLS matches following its Concacaf Final loss to Club León—part of a 2W-5D-2D run after its continental disappointment. Tillman said that LAFC’s recent rough patch, however, “wasn’t like anything I've experienced before, but I think we all learned a lot.

“Obviously we have to reflect on it in the break a little bit more, but yeah, it's been tough. It was great in the beginning, it's been tough in the little like in the middle, and it's been hard in the end, but that's just what football is like. You have ups, you have downs, and I think we will learn and grow as a team. And hopefully we can attack in the second half of the season.”

“Looking back at these months … the hardest part—mentally speaking—is that you are constantly riding a rollercoaster of extreme highs and lows,” Dos Santos added. “We had some truly great moments—real peaks. The opener at the Coliseum against Inter Miami, the Champions League matches back here at home... there were some very good moments, and other moments that were difficult. But we played 23 matches across February, March, April, and now a bit in May—that is a lot of games. So, physically, the players are dead tired. They are absolutely exhausted. They need a mental and physical break. I do, too. I need one mentally."

REPORT CARD

The win moved LAFC into fifth place in the Western Conference, with a league record of 7W-5L-3D and a 12W-6L-5D mark in all competitions.

Asked how the 2026 season to this point has aligned with his preseason expectations, Dos Santos replied: “I wanted us to compete for Champions [Cup]. We arrived at the semifinal where we won Leg One … We played eight games, we won five, we drew two and lost one. I think we competed to go far and to go to the final, but it's hard. If you look at the last 20 years, one MLS team won Champions League. We can't take this for granted that going to the Champions League is easy … but when I look back, I say we were very competitive. Then I wanted to finish after this stretch in the top four of our division [in MLS]. We're fifth, so there I have a—you know, we missed, but I think we had a run that was very difficult this month. ”

ANOTHER CLEAN SHEET

“We really needed a result and I'm just happy to played a part in that,” Hasal said after notching LAFC’s 11th shutout in 23 games this year, including nine in MLS play. No other MLS team has more than six league shutouts this season.

“It's the guys in front of us,” Hasal said of the success that he and Lloris have had. “They play a massive role. Any of the centerbacks, whether it's A-Lo [Aaron Long], Port [Porteous], Kos [Nkosi Tafari], they've been massive all season long. I think just limiting opportunities and then obviously the rest of the team in front of us just limiting spaces, running, putting on miles and making it as difficult as they can. And of course, 11 clean sheets at this point in the season. I've got to give a huge hand to Hugo too— watching him the entire first half of the season. It was fantastic. He was bailing us out a lot of the time. So, yeah, on a night like tonight, I'm happy I can make a couple of saves, but at the end of the day, it's the defenders, it's the guys in front of us that limit the other team's opportunities."

NOTES

Next year MLS will host a final in May, as the league will play a shortened season, from February to May 2027, to prepare for a permanent alignment with world soccer’s July-to-May schedule. Major League Soccer’s first summer-to-spring campaign begins in July 2027.

LAFC will celebrate this summer’s FIFA World Cup™ with a series of fan-focused events and community activations across Los Angeles as well as live viewings of FIFA World Cup 2026™ matches on June 19, June 24, and June 25.