Wednesday, August 19 | 6:30 p.m. PT
🏟 | DICK'S Sporting Goods Park - Commerce City, CO
🖥 | WATCH: Apple TV, 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 top-five position in both the Supporters’ Shield standings and Western Conference standings to suburban Denver for a midweek match against the Colorado Rapids.
In the Black & Gold’s last outing, the club saw its eight-match unbeaten streak across all competitions snapped with a 1-0 home loss to San Diego FC on Saturday night. Two more pivotal Western Conference matchups lie in wait this week, on the road against the Rapids, and back at home on Saturday against the Portland Timbers.
After scoring ten goals in its first three matches following the FIFA World Cup, LAFC’s attack has soared closer to earth, scoring just one goal in each of its next four matches while posting a 1W-0L-3D record, including a win and two PK-shootout victories in Leagues Cup. Fortunately, the Black & Gold’s defending has remained stout. Only Nashville (15 goals) and Vancouver (17) have conceded fewer goals than the 20 LAFC have let in in 2026.
Overall, the Black & Gold has a record of 5W-1L-3D in its last nine matches in all competitions, and has outscored opponents 15-5 in that span. Forward Denis Bouanga has scored seven goals in his last ten matches across all competitions. MLS All-Star Son Heung-Min ranks second in MLS in assists with 10, one behind Evander of FC Cincinnati.
THE SERIES
LAFC leads its all-time series with the Rapids with a record of 8W-4L-3D in MLS regular-season play.
The last time these two met, they played to a 0-0 draw at BMO Stadium on April 22, 2026– one week after LAFC had advanced past Cruz Azul in the Concacaf Champions Cup Quarterfinals. That draw marked the Rapids’ first-ever point at BMO Stadium over ten total matches, and was Hugo Lloris’ seventh clean sheet in MLS play in 2026. Lloris (above) is now up to 10 clean sheets, which leads Major League Soccer.
Lloris has posted 33 shutouts in the regular season since signing with LAFC ahead of the 2024 season, five more than the next closest MLS goalkeeper over that span (Takaoka, VAN, 28).
LAFC met the Rapids last year in Round One of Concacaf Champions Cup, and in 2024 in the Leagues Cup Semifinals, with LAFC advancing on both occasions. Across all competitions LAFC has outscored Colorado 35 goals to 17.
ABOUT THE RAPIDS
Colorado sits in eighth place in the West and 15th in the Supporters’ Shield race with a record of 8W-10L-1D.
Defender Reggie Cannon was named to the MLS Team of the Matchday after he scored the opening goal and helped the Rapids shut out Sporting Kansas City, 2-0, over the weekend. Cannon played a full 90 minutes, finishing a set-piece header in the 65th minute from Colorado’s newest signing Youssef Maziz, who had just subbed on to make his MLS debut. The French midfielder spent the past three seasons with Oud-Heverlee Leuven in Belgium’s first division. Rafael Navarro added the second goal in stoppage time to complete the 2-0 win. It was Colorado’s third consecutive shutout at home.
Last week the Rapids transferred defender and 2026 MLS All-Star Lucas Herrington to English Premier League side Hull City. The transaction for the 18-year-old Herrington, who made two starts for Australia in this summer’s FIFA World Cup, broke the Rapids’ record fee and was the highest for a defender in MLS history.
LAFC WILL WIN IF
Son affects the scoresheet. LAFC’s Korean star (above, against Colorado in April) recorded four goals and an assist in LAFC’s first four matches after the World Cup break but has been less fortunate near goal in his last four starts. When Son is flying, seeing the game, and finishing, the game opens wide and his teammates benefit. “He put himself in positions for big chances,” LAFC Marc Dos Santos said after the San Diego match, in which Son barely missed two gilded attempts on goal. “He is very involved and that's the important thing.”
THE RAPIDS CAN WIN IF
Their rested legs keep running. The Rapids did not participate in Leagues Cup, and thus enjoyed two weeks of rest while LAFC was grinding out three results against Liga MX frontrunners Chivas, Toluca, and Querétaro. Last weekend Colorado simply wore down a Sporting Kansas City side that was also well-rested but was playing at altitude at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, where the Rapids have a 6W-3L-0D home mark in MLS play this year.
