Sunday, June 29 | 6:30 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.-4:30 p.m. via exterior entrance and 5-9:30 p.m. via interior entrance.
🕹 | Level Up Arcade open pre-game from 4:30-6:30 p.m. and for 90 minutes after the final whistle.
Following its three-week FIFA Club World Cup hiatus, LAFC returns home - and to MLS play - with a Sunday Night Soccer matchup against Vancouver Whitecaps FC, which has led the Western Conference for most of the first half of this season.
LAFC hasn’t competed in Major League Soccer’s regular season since its 3-1 victory over Sporting Kansas City at BMO Stadium on June 8, which marked the Black & Gold’s ninth straight league game without a loss. In the interim, LAFC took on three of the best teams in England, Africa, and South America in the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, earning a record of 0W-2L-1D in group-stage play against Chelsea, Espérance Sportive de Tunis, and Flamengo. Chelsea and Flamengo advanced to the Round of 16 of the newly minted global club competition, while LAFC and ES Tunis were eliminated.
“It was a great experience and we're very happy and grateful that we got the chance to prove ourselves on that stage,” LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo told the media on Friday. “Twelve days, five hotels, three road games. I think we all feel the travel a little bit and the challenges that we met with over the last two weeks, but after watching training today it was great to see the players physically and mentally in a great spot. So I'm looking forward to the game Sunday and moving forward.”
SUMMER IS HERE
Much has changed for both clubs since Vancouver and LAFC played to a 2–2 draw in British Columbia on May 11. LAFC qualified for the FIFA Club World Cup with an inspiring home victory over Mexican giants Club América, while Vancouver advanced all the way to the Concacaf Champions Cup Final, where it fell to América’s Liga MX rivals, Cruz Azul.
Vancouver’s form has slipped slightly since it leapt out of the gate and into first place in the Western Conference at the outset of this season. Injuries and international duty have hampered a side that currently stands in second place in the West following Wednesday’s home defeat to new conference leaders San Diego FC.
Vancouver has gone 1W-2L-0D in MLS play since falling to Cruz Azul in the Champions Cup Final on June 1. The Caps enter Sunday’s contest in Los Angeles with an overall league record of 10W-3L-5D (35 points). LAFC stands in sixth place in the West with a record of 7W-4L-5D (26 points).
Both teams have played fewer matches than first-place San Diego. LAFC and the Caps rank fifth and first, respectively, in points earned per game.
FORM CHECK
Black & Gold forward Denis Bouanga, who was just named to the MLS All-Star team for the third straight season, scored against Flamengo in Tuesday’s Club World Cup finale, and has tallied eight goals and contributed four assists over his last nine MLS games. Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris turned in a world-class performance in each of LAFC’s three Club World Cup outings and has registered five clean sheets in MLS play in 2025.
Cherundolo said that Nathan Ordaz, who suffered a mild injury in the Club World Cup, is fit and ready to play on Sunday if called upon.
Vancouver fell to San Diego 5-3 on Wednesday without the services of arguably its two most impactful players this season, forward Brian White and midfielder Sebastian Berhalter. Both are playing for the U.S. Mens’ National Team, which just advanced to the knockout rounds of the Concacaf Gold Cup.
Canada, which also qualified for the Gold Cup knockouts, lost Whitecaps winger Ali Ahmed to an ankle injury last week against Curaçao. Caps forward Jayden Nelson remains with the Canadian team, but Vancouver fullback Sam Adekugbe suffered a season-ending Achilles injury in Canada’s friendly against Côte D’Ivoire on June 10.
Four Whitecaps made the MLS All-Star Team roster that was announced this week: White, Berhalter, defender Tristan Blackmon, and goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka.
“It's an opponent we know pretty well,” Cherundolo said of the Whitecaps. “Frankly the pace of the game should be dictated by us, and having seen Vancouver this year, with what [new coach] Jesper [Sørensen] has done with this team, they certainly don't want to slow things down either, so I think the pace of the game will be attractive, it should be fun.”
LAFC CAN WIN IF
It basks in the home energy of BMO Stadium and unsheaths the swords in sharpened against the world’s best. LAFC is 10W-1L-1D in all competitions at BMO this year, including a 6W-1L-1D record in MLS play.
“I could see today the guys are really excited to be home,” LAFC Co-President and GM John Thorrington said after Friday’s training session, “as am I. It almost feels like the first day of preseason. I'm sure guys' bodies don't necessarily feel that way, but I think we're excited now with another big challenge coming on Sunday against a top team in Vancouver. We're focused now on making sure we make up some ground in the league.”
VANCOUVER CAN WIN IF
Role players step into the empty shoes left by White, Berhalter, Ahmed, Nelson, and Adekugbe. One of the most impressive aspects of Vancouver’s torrid start to this season is that they have done it without midfielder Ryan Gauld, who has won the club’s MVP award the last three seasons. The Caps’ depth and resilience was already being tested. Earning a result in LA, and maintaining its standing among the West’s best as this season goes along, will require heightened performances from players less accustomed to the limelight.
