Saturday, August 8 | 8:10 p.m. PT
🏟 | BMO Stadium - Los Angeles, CA
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Coming off a thrilling penalty-shootout win over Chivas on Wednesday night following a 90-minute draw, LAFC welcomes Liga MX club Toluca FC to BMO Stadium for both clubs’ second match of Leagues Cup 2026.
The Saturday night prime-time contest is a rematch of this year’s Concacaf Champions Cup Semifinals, which Toluca won 5-2 on aggregate goals before moving on to defeat fellow Mexican giants Tigres UANL in the CCC Final. LAFC held a 2-1 advantage in that tie in the second half of the second leg at Estadio Nemesio Diez in Mexico before Toluca, the reigning two-time Liga MX champions, scored four goals to prevent LAFC from making its third trip to the CCC Final in seven years.
By contrast, Saturday’s matchup in Leagues Cup Phase One will be played at BMO Stadium, where LAFC is unbeaten in Leagues Cup play, with a home record of 7W-0L-4D in the four-year-old competition.
LAFC currently has two points in Leagues Cup’s Phase One MLS table, while Toluca earned three points by defeating the Seattle Sounders 3-0 at Estadio Nemesio Diez on Wednesday night. Each club has two matches remaining in Phase One. Only four teams from each league will advance to the Leagues Cup Quarterfinals.
- ALSO READ: What is Leagues Cup?
BOUANGA & THE BACKUPS
A packed and passionate BMO Stadium crowd watched LAFC battle Chivas to a 1-1 draw in the Black & Gold’s Leagues Cup opener on Wednesday night, with LAFC earning an extra point through the penalty-shootout heroics of Thomas Hasal (below right) and Jude Terry.
LAFC talisman Denis Bouanga – who stands tied with Lionel Messi as the leading goal scorer in Leagues Cup history (14 goals) – gave LAFC a first-half lead when he finished a clever cross from opposite winger David Martínez. After Chivas equalized moments later, and following a scoreless second half, a penalty shootout ensued that saw reserve goalkeeper Hasal save Mexican World Cup hero Luis Romo’s attempt and teenage LAFC Academy product Jude Terry blast home the winning PK to earn the Black & Gold a potentially crucial extra point.
Afterward, LAFC head coach Marc Dos Santos was impressed by his side’s togetherness and work rate in its defensive half. “They never stop,” Dos Santos said. “It's not easy. We've had difficult games. We have a tough schedule in August, but the mentality of the group is excellent right now.”
FORM CHECK
Since the eight-week World Cup break, LAFC is undefeated with a record of 3W-0L-2D in all competitions while outscoring opponents 12 goals to three. Forwards Bouanga and Son Heung-Min have combined to record nine of those 12 goals (plus three assists) in LAFC’s five matches since the break, not counting the two goals Son scored in his MVP performance at the MLS All-Star Game on July 29.
Four Toluca players represented Liga MX at that same All-Star Game: defenders Jesus Gallardo, Bruno Méndez, and Federico Pereira, and midfielder Franco Romero. In its three matches in the young Liga MX Apertura regular season, Toluca is 2W-1L-0D, with wins over Chivas (2-0) and Necaxa (3-1), and a 2-1 defeat to Pumas.
The Red Devils’ six goals in league play have come from six different players. Helinho, the 26-year-old Brazilian attacker, leads the club with two assists in Liga MX play.
Veteran striker Paulinho, the leading goal scorer in this year’s Concacaf Champions Cup and winner of that competition’s Best Player award, is currently sidelined by a leg injury that is expected to keep him out of Phase One action. Edgar Lopéz and newly signed Uruguayan international Federico Viñas have been filling in at center forward, with Viñas finding the net against Seattle on Wednesday.
Toluca defeated an injury-ravaged Sounders side 3-0 on Wednesday night in Mexico, outshooting Seattle by a stunning 39-4 margin, with Gallardo and Helinho scoring the first two goals and Viñas adding the third in added time.
LAFC WILL WIN IF
It maintains defensive discipline against Toluca’s high-powered attack.
Before Wednesday’s Chivas match, the Black & Gold had conceded just one non-penalty goal over 360 minutes of play since the World Cup break. Chivas found the net in open play when, according to Dos Santos, “we didn't shift well, so we left a big gap in the middle.”
Toluca has more weapons up top than Chivas, as LAFC learned all too well in the second half of their prior meeting with the Red Devils. Against Seattle at midweek, Toluca’s Gallardo, Erick Gutierrez, and Alexis Vega each fired three shots on target.
TOLUCA CAN WIN IF
It carries the momentum it found at home against the Sounders into BMO Stadium.
LAFC got off to admittedly slow starts in its last two matches – home fixtures against two of the top teams in their respective leagues, Vancouver and Chivas. Toluca would like nothing better than to seize control and possession at the opening whistle as well.
Standing in the way of that objective is a fan fortress in the North End of BMO Stadium, where LAFC is 10W-2L-3D in all competitions this year, including a 2W-0L-1D mark against Mexican sides. Over the last year, Dos Santos pointed out, “we played América here, we played Toluca, we played Cruz Azul, now we played Chivas, all big clubs of Mexico. And we never felt that we were playing away. We see other fans, we see a big crowd from the opponent, but the injection that The 3252 gives us makes us feel that we're still at home.”
