Sunday, Aug. 31 | 7:45 p.m. PT | Presented by Toyota
🏟 | BMO Stadium - Los Angeles, CA
📻 | 710 AM ESPN, ESPN LA App, and KFWB 980 AM La Mera Mera
🗓 | Calendar sync
🎁 | Captain's Armband Giveaway - Courtesy of Toyota, the first 10,000 fans to enter BMO Stadium have to opportunity to take home an inspiring giveaway. Davis, an 11-year-old LAFC fan from Pacific Palisades who lost his home in the recent fires, teamed up with LAFC players Ryan Hollingshead and Eddie Segura to design the captain’s armband for this match. Enter BMO Stadium early to claim yours!
The bright lights of Los Angeles will shine with extra glare on Sunday night as Son Heung-Min makes his home debut at BMO Stadium, and fifth-place LAFC hosts first-place San Diego FC in a prime-time ‘Sunday Night Soccer’ matchup that Apple TV analyst Brian Dunseth recently called “the hottest ticket in MLS this season.”
Son, the star forward and former English Premier League Golden Boot winner (2022), has played three games since he joined the Black & Gold in early August—but none have been at BMO, where LAFC boasts arguably the most vibrant home atmosphere in MLS and inarguably the league’s best home record since the club played its first game there in 2018.
THE STAKES
With a win on Sunday, LAFC (11W-6L-8D, 41 pts. through 25 games played) can tie fourth-place Seattle on points, and pull within nine points of first place in the Western Conference, with three games in hand on the top two teams, San Diego and Vancouver.
A top-four finish in the conference guarantees home-field advantage in the Round One Best-of-3 series in the MLS Cup Playoffs, which begin in late October.
Not only is postseason positioning is at stake – along with the long-awaited LA unveiling of Son – bragging rights between California’s two most populous cities also hang in the balance. In these clubs’ first-ever meeting back in May, SDFC leapt out to a 3-0 first-half lead and hung on for a 3-2 home win that helped prove its legitimacy. The early-season momentum of manager Mikey Varas’ team has held up well; last week San Diego became the first MLS side to clinch a playoff berth this season, and it did so in fewer games than any expansion club had previously. San Diego (16W-7L-5D, 53 pts. through 28 games played) can maintain its lead atop the conference standings by earning a win or a draw in LA.
CITADEL IN THE CITY
Earning road results in LA isn’t easy. LAFC leads all MLS clubs in points earned at home since 2018—the year the Black & Gold joined the league. LAFC has earned 266 points from 126 regular-season home matches in that span – a remarkable 2.11 points per game. (NYCFC and Philadelphia are tied for second with 254 home points.)
San Diego’s success on the road, however, has been part of its surprising success. In fact, the new club has earned more points away from San Diego (9W-4L-0D, 27 pts.) than it has at Snapdragon Stadium (7W-3L-5D, 26 pts.).
LAFC’s last home game at BMO Stadium was a 2-1 victory over Liga MX giants Tigres UANL on August 5 in Leagues Cup play. LAFC hasn’t played at BMO in the MLS regular season since falling to Portland 1-0 more than a month ago, on July 25. The Black & Gold owns a home record of 8W-3L-2D in the 2025 regular season. No Western Conference club has won more home games this year.
Overall, LAFC has taken at least a point from 16 of its last 18 MLS matches, going 8W-2L-8D in that span. LAFC is coming off a string of three straight road matches from which it earned five points through one win and two draws.
SON DELIVERS
The last of those three consecutive away contests was a 1-1 draw against FC Dallas last Saturday in which Son scored his first goal in a Black & Gold shirt. The Korean star’s free-kick stunner in the sixth minute won MLS Goal of the Matchday honors.
Son played all minutes in the Texas heat, leading his team with three shots on target and six key passes as LAFC held 60 percent possession and fired 20 total shots (six on target) while conceding just 11 shots (two on target) to the hosts.
In three appearances thus far, Son has recorded a goal, an assist, and has drawn a penalty on a breakaway that was converted by Denis Bouanga for another goal. “He’s helping us a lot already,” said midfielder Timmy Tillman.
STAYING CLASSY
For San Diego, DP forward Anders Dreyer has recorded a league-best 30 goal contributions so far in 2025 (13 goals, 17 assists). Fellow DP forward Chucky Lozano has added eight goals and eight assists. Defensive midfielder Jeppe Tverskov leads all MLS players in tackles. Those three players joined LAFC’s Bouanga at the MLS All-Star game last month.
LAFC Academy product Luca Bombino has excelled at fullback for San Diego this season while on loan from LAFC. His current teammate, SDFC midfielder Luca de la Torre, was called into the U.S. Mens National Team’s training camp this week ahead of the USMNT’s friendlies against Japan and South Korea (which is captained by Son).
De la Torre is expected to play on Sunday, as is LAFC midfielder Mathieu Choiniére, who became the first of potentially nine LAFC players to be called by their countries this year as qualification for FIFA World Cup 26 ramps up. Choiniére was brought into Team Canada ahead of their friendlies against Romania and Wales. (Canada has already qualified for next summer’s World Cup, as has Son’s South Korea team.)
BIG GAME BOUANGA
Denis Bouanga is sitting on 89 goals scored for LAFC in all competitions headed into this match, including his 14 regular-season goals this season. The French-Gabonese winger has a chance to become LAFC’s all-time leading goal scorer before season’s end, and with six more goals would become the first player in league history to score 20 goals in three consecutive seasons.
Big games like Sunday’s playoff-preview clash with San Diego tend to bring out the best in Bouanga. From his first-ever goal in an LAFC shirt (which clinched the 2022 Supporters’ Shield) to his more recent strikes against the Galaxy (he is that derby’s second all-time leading scorer and netted a playoff brace three years ago), against San Jose (his Decision Day goal last year pushed LAFC to the West’s top seed), to his unforgettable efforts with the world watching this year (his matchwinner in the FIFA Club World Cup Play-in game against Club América and his second-half breakaway versus Flamengo in the Club World Cup) – the 2023 MLS Golden Boot winner raises his level when the chips are down.
Twenty-two of Bouanga’s 89 goals for LAFC (25 percent) either won the game in the second half, or tied it. And he loves playing at home. Fifty-five of Bouanga’s goals have been scored at BMO Stadium (62 percent).
SAN DIEGO CAN WIN IF
It adapts to the jarring road environment that awaits them, and stays true to its principles. Varas has cultivated a dynamic attacking team that pushes through road barriers, but the San Diegans have yet to experience a setting like LAFC’s fortress on Figueroa. In its two sternest road tests (at Charlotte and at Seattle, in front of a combined 60,000 spectators), SDFC lost twice, by an aggregate 4-0 score line. They have the quality to win away from home – their conference-best 52 goals scored and plus-19 goal differential attest to that – but LAFC and its supporters in the North End are known for wearing teams down within BMO’s walls.
LAFC CAN WIN IF
It draws energy from Sunday’s homecoming. The five-week gap since LAFC’s last MLS home match has Steve Cherundolo’s side eager to touch home grass again. For a team that aspires to play home games throughout the MLS Cup Playoffs, this weekend presents the perfect opportunity to reestablish its dominance at BMO and stomp into the postseason.
Son in particular will be fascinating to watch in his BMO Stadium debut. After the flashbulbs subside and the ball gets kicked, the star forward’s developing chemistry with Bouanga and LAFC’s other attackers will take center stage. Like Bouanga, Son thrives when it matters most—as evidenced by his three World Cup goals and the 19 he has netted in UEFA Champions League play.
