Saturday, July 5 | 5:30 p.m. PT
🏟 | Q2 Stadium - Austin, TX
📻 | 710 AM ESPN, ESPN LA App, and KFWB 980 AM La Mera Mera
🗓 | Calendar sync
Following a historic June, Los Angeles Football Club kicks off a busy July with a road match in Austin, Texas, against Western Conference rivals Austin FC.
The Black & Gold returned to LA last week from its first ever global competition, the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, after being eliminated in the group stage following matches against international powers Chelsea FC (England), ES Tunis (Tunisia) and CR Flamengo (Brazil).
Saturday’s match in Austin is the first of seven scheduled fixtures for LAFC in the month of July, including its Leagues Cup opener against Mazatlán F.C. at BMO Stadium on July 29.
In MLS play, the Black & Gold currently sits in 7th place in the Western Conference with a record of 7W-5L-5D and a goal differential of plus-6. The club has earned 26 points from 17 games but has at least two games in hand compared with every other team in the conference.
FORM CHECK
LAFC’s first MLS match since its return from the Club World Cup was a 1-0 home defeat to Vancouver last Sunday that snapped the Black & Gold’s nine-match unbeaten streak in league play. LAFC outshot the Whitecaps 15-5, including a 4-1 edge in shots on goal—numbers that harken back to LAFC’s other 1-0 home defeat this season, on March 15 against Saturday’s opponent.
“We had a game against Austin at home, Austin had one shot on goal, tonight Vancouver had one shot on goal,” head coach Steve Cherundolo said after the Whitecaps match. “That happens in games. Sometimes you're punished and sometimes you're not. What we've been good at is being able to punish teams on the other end, and that wasn't the case tonight.”
Austin currently sits in ninth place in the West with a record of 5W-8L-6D and a goal differential of minus-8.
The Verde has improved its form following a rough start to the season. Austin lost its most recent match (2-0 in Seattle on June 28) but that was just the second defeat in the club’s last nine outings.
HELLO AND GOODBYE
Last Sunday’s match against Vancouver marked the end of legendary forward Olivier Giroud’s time with LAFC, and the MLS debut of winger Javairô Dilrosun, who was acquired from Club América days after LAFC defeated the Mexican team to gain entry into the FIFA Club World Cup.
Of Dilrosun’s first home match at BMO Stadium, and in Major League Soccer, Cherundolo said, “There were some moments where you see the player we saw as an opponent not too long ago here at our stadium. He has great flashes. He's still learning in our system, so there's still work we need to do in the video room with him and on the training pitch to unlock his full potential. I think we're getting there, but we're not quite there yet. I still think he can do much more for us, and I'm confident he will.”
ALL STARS SHINING
Forward Denis Bouanga, who was recently named an MLS All-Star for the third straight season, was announced on Wednesday as one of four finalists to be named captain of the 2025 MLS All-Star Team. Bouanga, who leads all MLS players in goals scored since January 2023, contributed eight goals and four assists to LAFC’s nine-game MLS unbeaten run, which ended with the one-goal loss to Vancouver last week.
During All-Star Week in Austin, which begins on July 21, Bouanga will be coached by Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez. The first-time MLS All-Star coach recently added two of his own players, goalkeeper Brad Stuver and striker Brandon Vazquez (five goals in 19 starts), to his All-Star roster.
Stuver is tied for fourth in MLS with seven clean sheets in 20 matches played. He has conceded just 23 goals in MLS play this year, a goals-against average of 1.15 per game – third-fewest among goalies with 17 or more starts.
LAFC CAN WIN IF
Its reduced options in attack combine creatively near Stuver’s goal. The departure of Giroud, the striker who this week joined Lille of France’s top division, simplified Cherundolo’s personnel options along the front of his 4-3-3 formation.
“Instead of carrying six attackers it's five,” Cherundolo said, “but we have players on the roster who can play up top as well, and we have plenty of depth. The obvious players who fill that [striker] role are Jeremy [Ebobisse] and Nathan [Ordaz].”
Whoever plays center forward on Saturday will have Bouanga, Dilrosun, and David Martínez (three MLS goals this year) on the wings, but will face a formidable Austin defense that has conceded the second-fewest goals in the West this season and requires inventive ball movement and link-up play to be broken down.
AUSTIN CAN WIN IF
It responds to a light workload in June (three matches) by performing crisply at home in its first match of July. Austin has only been defeated twice in ten matches at Q2 Stadium this season. The club’s 4W-2L-4D home record includes a 2-1 defeat of Eastern Conference contenders New York Red Bulls, as well as a scoreless draw with Vancouver (second place in the West) and a 2-1 win over conference leaders San Diego FC.
