Recap | San Jose Earthquakes 2-2 LAFC | 2026 MLS Season

LAFC Communications

Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) played the San Jose Earthquakes to a hard-fought 2-2 draw at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Saturday evening. The Black & Gold played most of the match down a man following a first-half red card, and conceded the equalizer with just seconds remaining in second-half stoppage time. The result moves LAFC’s record to 11W-8L-8D on the season and keeps the club among the top six in the Western Conference standings.

LAFC began the scoring in the 34th minute, when forward Son Heung-Min received a pass from Mark Delgado near the center circle, drove at goal, and unleashed a low, left-footed curler from 25 yards that beat San Jose goalkeeper Angus Gunn just inside the post to give LAFC a 1-0 lead. It was Son’s sixth goal of the MLS regular season.

In the 36th minute, LAFC captain Aaron Long was shown a red card after being judged to have denied an obvious goal-scoring opportunity to a San Jose attacker in the LAFC penalty area, forcing the Black & Gold to play a man down for the remaining 54 minutes. LAFC head coach Marc Dos Santos responded by bringing on center back Nkosi Tafari and taking off starting attacker Armindo Sieb.

LAFC remained dangerous despite the personnel shift. In the 53rd minute a vintage LAFC counterattack unfolded from goal line to goal line, with Delgado playing Son into space in the center of the park and Son driving goalward before deftly assisting an advancing Denis Bouanga at the far post to give LAFC a 2-0 lead. The goal was Bouanga’s 79th regular-season tally in an LAFC shirt, surpassing Carlos Vela’s total (78) and making Bouanga the club’s all-time regular-season goal scoring king.

LAFC guarded its 2-0 lead despite playing a man down, with Hugo Lloris and center backs Tafari and Ryan Porteous repeatedly turning away Quakes’ chances. In the 70th minute, however, San Jose substitute Timo Werner served a curling ball into the area from the right flank that Quakes striker Preston Judd finished with a leaping header to narrow the Black & Gold lead to 2-1.

Lloris saved another free header from Judd in the 80th minute to maintain LAFC’s edge, and seconds later the French World Cup champion denied Werner before parrying away an 86th-minute header by Jack Skahan.

In the eighth and final minute of stoppage time, and with San Jose still playing with 11 men to LAFC’s 10, Quakes center back Reid Roberts drove a low left–footed shot from 30 yards out that beat a diving Lloris just inside the post to tie the match 2-2 and steal a point for the home side.

LAFC returns to action on Saturday, September 26, when the club takes on FC Dallas at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. That match kicks off at 5:30 p.m. PT and will be broadcast on Apple TV, as well as Coupang Play and SPOTV for fans in Korea. Local radio coverage will be available on 710 AM ESPN, the ESPN LA app, KYPA 1230 AM (Korean), and 980 AM La Mera Mera (Spanish).

NOTES:

With the result, LAFC is now 11W-8L-8D for 41 points this season and 17-9-12 in all competitions, having gone 5-1-2 in the Concacaf Champions Cup and 1-0-2 in Leagues Cup.

All-time, LAFC is now 12W-8L-2D against San Jose in MLS regular-season play.

Denis Bouanga’s 53rd-minute goal was his 14th in MLS this season and 21st across all competitions for the club in 2026. The goal moved him past Carlos Vela and into first place on the club’s all-time MLS regular-season goals list, with 79.

To date, Bouanga has scored 79 goals in 127 career MLS regular-season appearances. Vela – LAFC’s first-ever Designated Player, the 2019 MLS MVP and Golden Boot winner, and currently an LAFC owner and Club Ambassador – scored 78 goals in 152 regular-season appearances.

Of the 121 goals Bouanga has scored for LAFC in all competitions, he has scored 11 against the Earthquakes, more than any other MLS club except the Galaxy (also 11).