Saturday, March 21 | 5:45 p.m. PT
🏟 | Q2 Stadium - Austin, Texas
🖥 | WATCH: Apple TV, FOX | Coupang Play (Korea), SpoTV (Korea), Local Bar Partners
📻 | LISTEN: 710 AM ESPN, ESPN LA App, SiriusXM FC 157 KFWB 980 AM La Mera Mera (Spanish), & KYPA 1230 AM (Korean)
LAFC carries its club-record run of four straight wins to begin the season into Q2 Stadium in Austin, TX, on Saturday night for a prime-time Western Conference clash on Apple TV and FOX.
The Black & Gold has a record of 7W-0L-1D in all competitions— 4W-0L-0D in MLS and 3W-0L-1D in Concacaf Champions Cup - and is the only club in MLS to open this season with four consecutive shutout wins. Up next is a gritty Austin FC side playing at its raucous home stadium.
Austin currently sits in 11th place in the West after four weeks, with a record of 1W-2L-1D.
“We had a video session this morning and it was about the things we could do better as a team,” LAFC head coach Marc Dos Santos said Friday. “Even if we are in a positive run, we still look at a lot of things that we have to be better at as a team. That was the meeting today in relation to Austin.”
ALAJUELA TO AUSTIN
LAFC traveled to Texas directly after sealing its emotional, 3-2 aggregate-goals win over Alajuelense in Concacaf Champions Cup on Tuesday night, which advanced the club into the CCC Quarterfinals. LAFC has bunkered in the Texas capital for the last three days to recover physically, watch film, and do a bit of training.
“The dads and husbands in the locker room probably miss their wives and kids when it's a little bit more extended," Dos Santos said, "but they like to be around each other. They do a lot of things together and it's a really good group, a good locker room. That's what I've been seeing these past few days.”
INJURY REPORT
The Black & Gold is still without one of its early-season midfield stars, Stephen Eustáquio, who suffered a lower body injury against Dallas on March 7 and has been taking things slow. “We're going to try to do this rehab the best we can and make sure that we put every tool to have Stephen with us as soon as possible but right now before the break we have to focus on the run we're having. Can we continue? Can we win five in a row and keep pushing? That's our objective as a group.”
Dos Santos added that centerback and 2025 captain Aaron Long, and recently acquired winger Jacob Shaffelburg, are close to returning to team training. Long suffered a season-ending Achilles injury last July.
SCOUTING AUSTIN
Through four MLS matches Austin has scored five goals and conceded seven. Only three teams in the Western Conference have scored fewer goals than the Verde thus far.
Matchday 1 |
2-2 draw vs. MIN (in Austin) |
Matchday 2 |
1-0 win vs. DC United (in Austin) |
Matchday 3 |
3-1 loss @ CLT (away) |
Matchday 4 |
2-1 loss @ RSL (away) |
Austin’s total xG (expected goals) so far this season stands at 4.1, or roughly one expected goal per game, which ranks 26th in MLS. The Verde have lost the xG battle in three of their four matches this year, including their last two, both road losses in which they also held less possession than their opponent. Q2 Stadium, however, can be a powerful teammate, with green-clad locals piling in and making their presence felt.
OLD AND NEW
Austin usually plays in a 4-2-3-1 shape, with reigning MLS All-Star Brad Stuver in goal, as he has been for virtually every game the 2019 expansion club has ever played.
Stuver was amazing last week against RSL, making multiple double saves to hold the 1-1 scoreline until RSL’s Stijn Spierings rifled home a matchwinner from distance in the 88th minute.
This past offseason Austin acquired former MLS All-Star and Uruguay international Facundo Torres, who has yet to score but leads the club with two assists and is tied for third in MLS in key passes (12). (Key passes immediately create a goal scoring opportunity for a teammate.)
“There are similarities to the team of last year,” Dos Santos said of the side that LAFC defeated in the MLS Cup Playoffs in November 2025. “And there are little tweaks because of the addition of players like Facundo Torres and [former Vancouver winger] Jayden Nelson who bring a little bit of a different dynamic offensively. We're aware of them, we're aware of their strengths, and we have to be very focused.”
LAST TIME WE MET
On Nov. 2, 2025, LAFC defeated Austin 4-1 at Q2 Stadium to win their Round One Best-of-3 series and advance to the Western Conference Semifinals. Son Heung-Min and Denis Bouanga assisted one another in the 21st and 25th minutes to give LAFC an early 2-0 advantage, then Bouanga added another in the 44th to effectively put the game away. Son recorded his first MLS postseason goal that night, as well as his first MLS postseason assist.
A NOTE ABOUT BOUANGA
Of the 106 goals Bouanga has scored for LAFC in all competitions, he has scored eight (8) against Austin, which trails only the Galaxy (10), San Jose (10), and Vancouver (9) among teams he has scored against most often.
LAFC WILL WIN IF
Goalkeeper and captain Hugo Lloris continues to lead the way. The French World Cup champ has stopped every one of the 15 shots he has faced so far this season in MLS play, but his vocal leadership transcends his shot-stopping. Lloris puts his men in the right place.
Lloris, along with defenders Eddie Segura and Nkosi Tafari, are the only three LAFC players to play all 360 minutes in MLS this season. Third centerback Ryan Porteous has only missed a single minute of action. These four have held down the fort while the club’s front seven have gotten to know Dos Santos’ attacking tactics.
AUSTIN CAN WIN IF
Facundo Torres gets loose. A valuable member of Uruguay’s national team, Torres can drift through games and then suddenly make the scoreboard change when no one’s looking. He did it last week in Salt Lake, curling a perfect free kick from 40 yards out and placing it on the head of defender Jon Bell, who finished for the game’s opening goal.
LAFC would be wise to keep an eye on Austin’s number 11.
