Saturday, Sept. 13 | 5:30 p.m. PT
🏟 | Levi's Stadium - Santa Clara, CA
📻 | 710 AM ESPN, ESPN LA App, KFWB 980 AM La Mera Mera (Spanish), and KYPA 1230 AM (Korean)
🗓 | Calendar sync
LAFC travels to Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., this weekend to face the San Jose Earthquakes in a clash of Western Conference rivals, interstate adversaries, and two teams currently above the playoff line in the Western Conference.
The match marks the only Quakes home date scheduled at Levi’s Stadium this year. With a capacity of 68,500, Levi’s Stadium, home of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, has opened its upper decks for Saturday’s match as ticket sales soar for the prime-time contest, which the hosts are billing as “the biggest Mexican Independence Day Weekend celebration in the Bay Area.”
"I think we're gonna face a hard opponent," midfielder Timmy Tillman said after training on Thursday, "especially at Levi's [where] we've been struggling the last two years. It's a very important game for us to show that we can win there. They are fighting for playoffs, we are fighting for playoffs too, so it's gonna be an intense game."
THE MATCHUP
LAFC is unbeaten in its last eight MLS road games, and currently in fifth place in the Western Conference standings (11W-7L-8D, 41 points) with at least one game in hand on every other team in the West. LAFC has played three fewer games than San Jose, which sits in ninth place in the West with a record of 9W-12L-8D (35 points).
The Black & Gold defeated San Jose 2-1 in Los Angeles back in April thanks to goals from Sergi Palencia and Denis Bouanga, and three saves from Hugo Lloris. Palencia’s goal was his first ever for LAFC; Bouanga’s was his first of the 2025 season.
Bouanga has added 14 league goals since then. His 15 goals in 2025 have him just five away from becoming the first player in MLS history with three straight 20-goal seasons. Bouanga is also just three goals away from tying Carlos Vela (93 goals) as LAFC’s all-time leading scorer across all competitions.
PLAYOFF POSITIONING
The three points LAFC earned five months ago against San Jose are valuable to its postseason hopes today. The top four teams in the Western Conference standings at season’s end will receive home-field advantage in their respective Round One Best-of-3 Series. LAFC is just three points out of that fourth spot, with games in hand on the top four teams.
San Jose, meanwhile, aspires to stay among the top nine teams in the West. Those nine teams will advance to the MLS Cup playoffs, with the eighth- and ninth-place teams meeting in a single-game elimination Wild Card match whose winner moves on to face the No. 1 seed in a Round One Best-of-3 Series. That Wild Card match will be played in just six weeks (Oct. 22).
SCOUTING SAN JOSE
San Jose can create chances and score goals. The Quakes have found the net 53 times this season – the second-most goals among all Western Conference teams (San Diego, 54). The Quakes rank second in all of MLS in expected goals (xG) with 59.03 (Philadelphia Union, 59.26).
Forwards Josef Martinez and Cristian “Chicho” Arango (an MLS Cup champion with LAFC in 2022) lead the Quakes with 12 goals apiece. All-purpose attacker Cristian Espinoza has recorded four goals and 12 assists—six more assists than any other Quakes player. Espinoza joined LAFC’s Bouanga on the 2025 MLS All-Star roster earlier this summer.
On the other side of the pitch, San Jose has allowed 51 goals. Only three clubs in MLS have conceded more (Sporting KC, Galaxy, and D.C. United).
The Quakes’ most recent match was a 3-1 road loss to Austin FC on August 30. In that match San Jose led Austin in possession, shots, and shots on goal. Quakes defender Daniel Munie scored his second goal of the season.
FAVORED SON
The integration of Son Heung-Min into LAFC’s attack continues on schedule. The South Korean star, who joined LAFC in early August, registered two shots on target in LAFC’s 2-1 defeat to conference leaders San Diego FC—a game in which LAFC compiled 2.7 expected goals (xG) to just 0.7 for San Diego.
In all, Son has made four appearances (three starts) for LAFC and has compiled one goal, one assist, eight shots on target, and 13 key passes in 299 minutes played. His interplay with Bouanga has helped LAFC rise to sixth place in MLS in expected goals (xG), with 53.04.
WORLD TRAVELERS
Son starred for South Korea in its two friendlies during the FIFA international break, scoring a goal and providing an assist in the Red Devils’ 2-0 win over the U.S., and notching another goal in Korea’s 2-2 draw with Mexico. LAFC midfielder Mathieu Choinière played the final 14 minutes of Canada’s 1-0 win over Wales in an international friendly in Swansea. South Korea and Canada will both compete in the FIFA World Cup 26 next year.
Bouanga traveled to Africa for two World Cup qualifying matches, scoring three goals in Gabon’s 4-0 victory over Seychelles and playing all 90 minutes of Gabon’s 0-0 draw with Cote d’Ivoire. Nathan Ordaz made two appearances for El Salvador in World Cup qualifying, recording the winning assist in its 1-0 win over Guatemala. Another LAFC Academy product, forward Adrian Wibowo, made his debut for Indonesia in their friendly against Lebanon, a 0-0 draw.
For San Jose, forward Ousseni Bouda joined his national team, Burkina Faso, which drew with Mo Salah and Egypt 0-0 in African World Cup qualifying. Quakes forward Josef Martinez scored in Venezuela’s 6-3 defeat to Colombia, which ended the Venezuelans’ chances of participating in the FIFA World Cup 26.
ROAD TESTED
LAFC’s last loss on the road in MLS play came more than five months ago (a 1-0 defeat in Houston on April 5). Since then LAFC has gone unbeaten away from BMO Stadium with a road record of 2W-0L-5D.
LAFC CAN WIN IF
Its front line returns from the FIFA international break energized and ready for three matches in nine days—two of them on the road. Son and Bouanga will be counted on to provide attacking punch with support from David Martínez—and possibly from new Irish acquisition Andy Moran as well. LAFC’s pressing movements and its defensive efforts have helped the club score 45 goals and concede just 33 this season, for a goal differential of plus-12 that ranks fourth in the Western Conference and eighth in MLS.
SAN JOSE CAN WIN IF
Forwards Bouda and Martinez bounce back following long flights home and jump into the mix with Arango and Espinoza to create chances. The Quakes are built to outscore teams. In their nine wins this year they have scored 27 goals (three per game). They will likely need a similar output to pressure a Black & Gold side that has conceded just 33 goals all year, despite two season-ending injuries along its back line. Only four MLS teams have allowed fewer goals than LAFC.
