Los Angeles Football Club fell at home for the third time this season, losing 3-2 to the opportunistic Vancouver Whitecaps Saturday night at BMO Stadium. The defeat left LAFC in a two-way tie with St. Louis City SC for first place in the Western Conference.
Three days after scoring in the first minute in their win over Seattle, the Black and Gold conceded a goal in the second minute to Vancouver, as Ryan Gauld’s corner kick was rocketed past LAFC goalkeeper John McCarthy by a glancing header from Ranko Veselinovic, who had slipped away from his marker.
Twenty minutes later, Vancouver found itself with a numerical advantage on a counterattack that forward Brian White finished with a perfectly placed header off a cross from Gauld, who contributed to all three Whitecaps goals.
“They had the right game plan for tonight,” LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo said. “They made some plays and we made one too many errors. Anytime you concede three goals at home it’s hard to win, and in then end you don’t deserve it … We’ll recover from this, learn from it, and move forward.”
The game laid bare the vulnerabilities in an LAFC side that was without centerbacks Aaron Long (USMNT duty) and Jesús Murillo (injury) and was forced to start holding midfielder Ilie Sánchez in their absence. The result was Vancouver’s first road win since June 2022.
The Black and Gold had its chances, though. And it capitalized on one of them just before intermission, when Carlos Vela poked a 50-50 ball toward Vancouver’s goal line and into the path of fellow forward Stipe Biuk. The Croatian’s cross came to Ryan Hollingshead, whose saved shot caromed to an unmarked Dènis Bouanga, who tapped it in to bring LAFC within one. It was Bouanga’s 11th goal of the MLS season, good for second place behind Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar (13).
A short-range curler from Vela in the 53rd minute Vela swerved directly into the hands of Whitecaps keeper Yohei Takaoka. His counterpart McCarthy made a far more difficult save on a Sergio Còrdova shot ten minutes later, only to watch the ball ricochet to Gauld at the edge of the area. The Scottish midfielder made good use of the time and space afforded him, driving a low shot that was deflected past McCarthy and into the net to give the visitors a 3-1 lead.
“Some soft goals, especially the third, and that can’t happen,” said Cherundolo. “If you make those mistakes it’s really hard to score four goals against a team [like Vancouver].”
LAFC did manage a second goal when a defensive gaffe by Veselinovic in the 68th minute allowed LAFC’s Mateusz Bogusz to advance the ball deep into the Whitecaps 18-yard box and square it to Vela, who knocked it past Takaoka to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Despite subsequent chances, an equalizer never arrived.
LAFC returns to action Wednesday night in north Texas when takes on FC Dallas at Toyota Stadium. That game will kick off at 5:30 p.m. PT and can be seen live on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
NEWS & NOTES
- With the loss, LAFC is now 9-4-5 on the season for 32 points. LAFC is now in a tie for first place the Western Conference with St. Louis City.
- The loss snaps LAFC’s two-game winning streak and leaves the club one win shy of becoming the second Western Conference team and the sixth in all of MLS to record 10 or more wins.
- Tonight’s game finishes a run of seven games in 20 days dating back to June 4. Between June 4 and June 24, the club went 2-4-1 in those seven games while playing a game every 2.86 days.
- Vancouver took a 1-0 lead in the second minute through Ranko Veselinovic. That goal was scored at 1:55 and was the fifth fastest goal scored against LAFC all-time in the MLS regular season.
- John McCarthy finished the game with six saves, equaling his season-high which was set originally on June 17 in the win over Sporting Kansas City.
- Denis Bouanga scored his 11th goal of the season just before halftime, making the score 2-1. That goal was his first in the league since May 17 against Sporting Kansas City, snapping a run of four games without a goal. That goal was his 18th in all competitions this year.
- Bounanga’s 11 regular season goals are the second-most in MLS this season. Only Hany Mukhtar of Nashville SC has more goals (13) than Bouanga.
- Carlos Vela scored in the 68th minute to make the score 3-2 in favor of Vancouver. That goal was his sixth of the season in MLS and ninth in all competitions.
- Vela now has 75 MLS regular season goals, becoming the 32nd player in MLS history to reach that milestone.
- Vela and Bouanga have scored 17 of LAFC’s 28 league goals this season, but this was the first time that they each scored in the same game. In all competitions, Vela and Bounanga have 27 of LAFC’s 45 goals.
- Mateusz Bogusz was credited with the assist on Vela’s goal. That was his second assist of the season, making him one of six LAFC players with multiple assists in MLS play this season.
- Bogusz now has a goal or an assist in each of LAFC’s last three games.
- Ryan Hollingshead made the 240th regular season appearance of his MLS career in this game while Ilie Sanchez made his 195th and Diego Palacios made his 90th.
- The three goals conceded by LAFC were the most they have allowed in a regular season home game since August 28, 2021 when the club played to a 3-3 draw with the LA Galaxy.
- This was Vancouver’s first-ever win at BMO Stadium. LAFC had been 4-0-3 against the Whitecaps at home in all competitions, including a 3-0 win in April in the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Champions League.
For the first time in a month, LAFC will not play a midweek game and will be back in action on Saturday, July 1 when they travel to Texas to face FC Dallas. That game will kick off at 5:30 p.m. PT and can be seen live on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Three days after that game, on Tuesday, July 4, the Black & Gold will take on the rival LA Galaxy at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. That game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. and can be seen live on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
