LAFC saw its four game unbeaten streak come to an end with a 1-0 loss to the Portland Timbers on Friday night at BMO Stadium. Cristhian Paredes scored the only goal of the game for the Timbers, heading an Ian Smith corner kick in off the post in the final seconds of the first half.
After the break, LAFC came closest to scoring just before the hour mark when a low cross from Artem Smolyakov found Nathan Ordaz inside the penalty area. Ordaz’s sliding, first time shot was saved by Portland goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau, and Ryan Hollingshead’s rebound was blocked by a Timbers defender, keeping the score 1-0.
LAFC center back Kenny Nielsen, who was making his MLS debut in the game, nearly equalized in the 78th minute, but his overhead kick was deflected off the crossbar, giving Portland its first win at BMO Stadium since 2021.
With the loss, LAFC now heads into the Leagues Cup break with a 10-6-6 record for 36 points.
LAFC will be back in action on Tuesday, July 29, when the club opens its 2025 Leagues Cup campaign against Mazatlán at BMO Stadium. That game is scheduled to kick off at 7:30 p.m. PT and can be seen live on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, with radio coverage available on 710 AM ESPN, the ESPN LA app, and 980 AM La Mera Mera.
NOTES
- LAFC heads into the Leagues Cup break in sixth place in the Western Conference with 36 points from 22 games. The club has at least one game in hand on each of the five teams ahead of it.
- LAFC is now 8-3-2 at home in MLS play and 12-3-2 at home in all competitions.
- All three home losses for LAFC this season have finished 1-0 and all three have been against Western Conference opposition.
- LAFC has now been shutout three times at home this season, equalling a club record that was first set in 2023.
- This was Portland’s first win at BMO Stadium since September 2021 and just the third time in 19 all-time meetings between the two sides that LAFC has failed to score.
- Kenny Nielsen made his MLS debut in the game, playing the full 90 minutes in central defense. He finished the game by completing 93% of his game-high 98 passes and hitting the crossbar with his only shot of the game.
- Nielsen, who was selected in the second round of the 2024 MLS SuperDraft, is just the fourth LAFC draft pick to start a game, joining Joao Moutinho (10 starts), Tristan Blackmon (46 starts) and Peter Lee Vassell (2 starts) to start a game for the club, and the first player drafted by the club since 2020 to start a match.
- He is also just the seventh LAFC draft pick to play in a game for the club, joining the three aforementioned players as well as Javier Perez, Danny Trejo, and Alvaro Quezada.
- Prior to tonight, the last LAFC draft pick to start a match was Tristan Blackmon on October 20, 2021 against FC Dallas. Blackmon was also the last LAFC draft pick to play 90 minutes in a game, doing so just less than four years ago on August 15, 2021 against Atlanta.
- Denis Bouanga tied for the team-lead with two shots on the night, however neither was on target. This was the first time that Bouanga did not have a shot on target in a league game since April 5 in a 1-0 loss at Houston.
- Bouanga is currently second in MLS with 46 shots on target in 21 appearances. LAFC is 9-2-6 when he starts and has a shot on target compared to 0-3-0 when he starts but does not place a shot on target.
- This was the first time since June 29, LAFC’s last defeat, that Bouanga did not score, snapping a four-game goal scoring streak, which was the longest of his LAFC career.
