Sunday, June 8 | 6 p.m. PT
🏟 | BMO Stadium - Los Angeles, CA
📻 | 710 AM ESPN, ESPN LA App, and KFWB 980 AM La Mera Mera
🗓 | Calendar sync
🛍 | LAFC HQ open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. via exterior entrance and 4:30-9 p.m. via interior entrance.
🕹 | Level Up Arcade open pre-game from 4-6 p.m. and for 90 minutes after the final whistle.
On the heels of one of the biggest victories in club history, LAFC welcomes Sporting Kansas City to BMO Stadium for a Sunday Night Soccer matchup that marks the Black & Gold’s final MLS regular-season game before it heads east to begin group-stage play in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025.
On Saturday night May 31, LAFC defeated Club América, winners of three of the last four Liga MX championships, by a score of 2-1 in a 120-minute thriller that earned the Black & Gold the 32nd and final spot in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, the biggest international club competition of its kind. LAFC joins Group D in that competition and will play its first group-stage match in Atlanta on Monday, June 16, against Chelsea FC of the English Premier League.
But first it must face Western Conference rival Sporting KC, LAFC’s opponent in its most recent high-profile victory prior to last weekend’s— the 2024 U.S. Open Cup Final, which also went to extra time before LAFC won 3-1.
FRESH START
Unbeaten in four straight matches, SKC stands in 12th place in the Western Conference, just seven points behind sixth-place LAFC, with a record of 4W-8L-4D. All four of SKC’s wins have come since the club parted ways with longtime manager Peter Vermes on March 31. Vermes’ second-to-last game in charge of the club was a 2-0 home defeat to LAFC, which received goals that night from David Martínez and Aaron Long.
Sporting KC has a record of 4W-3D-3L since interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin took over, including away victories over seventh-place San Jose and last weekend’s road win over ninth-place Houston. Sporting KC has averaged 1.9 goals scored per game under Zavagnin, compared to 0.86 goals per game prior to the coaching change. Overall, the team has scored 25 goals in MLS play and has allowed 28 (minus-3 goal differential).
DOWNING THE DYNAMO
Goalkeeper John Pulskamp (8 saves) and forward Dejan Joveljic (2 goals) were named to the MLS Team of the Matchday this week for their performances in Saturday’s 3-1 road win in Houston. Sporting conceded most of the possession to the Dynamo and managed fewer shots, but Serbian striker Joveljic, formerly of the Galaxy, connected on two of his three shots on goal, including a 52nd-minute scissor kick that was named MLS Goal of the Matchday.
SOARING INTO SUMMER
LAFC is unbeaten in eight straight MLS games and has received seven goals and two assists from Denis Bouanga during that streak. Bouanga, who registered a goal and an assist in last weekend’s epic victory over Club América in the FIFA Club World Cup Play-In match, has played all but nine minutes during LAFC’s unbeaten MLS run (711 of a possible 720 minutes), and has registered 25 shots on target, more than any other MLS player in that span.
LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris has complied five clean sheets in 14 MLS starts this season. The former World Cup champion (France 2018) leads a defensive unit that allows the third-fewest shots on target in MLS
“Hugo, in the locker room, when nobody wants to speak he speaks, and at the right moments with the right content,” said LAFC manager Steve Cherundolo. “He just finds the right words at the right moment and he is very important for our group, very important.”
THE SERIES
LAFC’S all-time record against SKC in MLS play is 8W-4L-2D. LAFC is unbeaten in eight straight in the regular-season series. Sporting’s last victory over LAFC came in August 2021.
LAFC CAN WIN IF
It approaches the match with a fraction of the urgency it showed against América. The stakes in last Saturday’s match were incalculably high, but Sunday’s match carries its own heft. The regular-season’s midpoint is here. Points are becoming more and more valuable, and Cherundolo’s personnel choices on Sunday will be interesting to watch. His late substitutions played a pivotal role in last weekend’s historic win—along with the reliable and relentless Bouanga—and they could play a role against SKC as well, as LAFC looks to enter the FIFA Club World Cup on a winning note.
SPORTING KC CAN WIN IF
Joveljic and friends pack their finishing skills in their luggage. Only one MLS club has conceded more goals than the 28 SKC has allowed this season (Galaxy, 36), but Joveljic (team-high nine goals) and fellow attackers Daniel Sallói (five), Erik Thommy, and Manu García (two goals each) have been keeping games close for Kerry Zavagnin’s side. If they can sneak behind LAFC’s unforgiving back line and challenge Lloris, three points could accompany them on the plane ride home.
