Wednesday, July 12 | 5:30 p.m. PT
🏟 | Allianz Field - St Paul, MN
📻 | 710 AM ESPN, ESPN LA App, and KFWB 980 AM La Mera Mera
🗓 | Calendar sync
Riding a 2-0 record thus far in July with five goals scored and none conceeded, LAFC departs Los Angeles to take on Minnesota United at Allianz Field on Wednesday night in a potential playoff preview. The Black & Gold (9W-5L-5D, 32 points) stands in sixth place in the Western Conference with three games in hand on the second-place Loons (11W-4L-7D), who have played 22 games to LAFC’s 19.
LAFC picked up six much-needed points last week, defeating the Colorado Rapids 3-0 and FC Dallas 2-0. Both victories came at BMO Stadium, where the Black & Gold owns a 12W-2L-1D home record in all competitions this year, including an 8W-2L-1D record in league play. Playing in the Twin Cities, however, will present a new challenge. The Loons are 6W-2L-3D at Allianz Field, where the weather is expected to be humid, overcast, and drizzly Wednesday night.
FORM CHECK
Denis Bouanga has scored in three of his last four MLS matches, with each goal coming through a penalty kick that the French-born winger earned himself. The three-time MLS All-Star leads LAFC in goals and assists (10 and seven, respectively), including his setup of Nathan Ordaz’s fifth MLS goal of the year Saturday night against Dallas— the second straight match in which the 21-year-old appeared on the scoresheet.
Saturday Bouanga became the second player in LAFC history to score 10 or more goals in three consecutive seasons, joining Diego Rossi (2018-20).
Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris owns a 9W-3L-5D record in league play this season, including seven clean sheets and made his 50th appearance in league play for the club in its most recent match.
Clean. Crisp. LAFC Merch of the Week. Pick up yours at LAFC HQ today.
LOONS LOWDOWN
Like LAFC, the Loons are unbeaten in July, having defeated Dallas on the road and Chicago (in the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinal) and San Jose at home. Minnesota played Bundesliga club Holstein Kiel to a scoreless draw on July 7 in an international friendly that MNUFC used as an opportunity to test its youth and depth.
In the Loons’ last outing, forward Tani Oluwaseyi ran rampant over the Earthquakes, scoring a goal and adding two assists, one of them to fellow forward Kelvin Yeboah. Both players joined Bouanga on the MLS Team of the Matchday this week.
Minnesota keeper Dayne St. Clair, who will join his teammate Michael Boxall and Bouanga at next week’s MLS All-Star Game in Austin, has collected eight clean sheets in league play in 2025.
Minnesota will take on Austin in the U.S. Open Cup Semifinals in September, with a chance to move on to the Final and succeed LAFC, the 2024 Open Cup champions, as winners of the oldest club competition in the States.
MNUFC CAN WIN IF
It transforms another set piece into a goal. Minnesota leads the league in set piece goals (15), with the long throws of Boxhall and the curling corner kicks of Joaquín Pereyra serving as its best weapons. Pererya struck twice against San Jose, with Oluwaseyi tapping in a flicked-on corner and Anthony Markanich booting home another following a poor Quakes clearance.
LAFC CAN WIN IF
It adjusts to the absence of center back and captain Aaron Long, who suffered a lower body injury against Dallas. Long’s matchplay and leadership will be missed while he recovers, and on Wednesday his teammates must fill that gap under damp, gray skies. LAFC owns a record of 1W-3L-4D in league play away from BMO Stadium this year, but Minnesota has only defeated the Black & Gold once at Allianz Field (in Eric Ramsay’s managerial debut in March 2024).
Scoring the game’s first goal would help LAFC’s cause. Since the start of the 2022 season, the Black & Gold is 55W-3L-5D in the regular season when it finds the net first, and 8-0-1 this season.
