LAFC players Cristian Olivera, left and Denis Bouanga celebrate their 5-0 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps last Saturday at BMO Stadium.
Media Assets: Interviews With LAFC Head Coach Steve Cherundolo, forward Denis Bouanga, and midfielder Eduard Atuesta Below.
The Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) picked up its second consecutive victory and its first win away from home in MLS this season, knocking off St. Louis CITY 2-0 at CITYPARK on Wednesday night. Denis Bouanga scored a pair of second-half goals and Hugo Lloris tied a season-high with six saves, including one on a João Klauss penalty kick, to lead the visitors to the win.
The Black & Gold are now 6-4-3 on the season for 21 points, leaving LAFC in a tie for second place in the Western Conference.
St. Louis CITY, who failed to beat LAFC in either of their meetings during their inaugural season in 2023, had a great chance to go in front in the 16th minute after Omar Campos was whistled for a handball inside the penalty area. Klauss stepped up to take the penalty, but Lloris was able to dive to his right and make the save, before then saving the follow up shot as well, to keep the game scoreless.
The home side did get the ball past Lloris in first-half stoppage time, but Anthony Markanich was adjudged to have handled the ball before prodding it into the net, keeping the score 0-0.
The game would remain scoreless until just before the hour mark when Bouanga opened the scoring. Mateusz Bogusz played a long ball over the top of the St. Louis defense for Bouanga, who raced onto it and took one touch before firing a right-footed shot past Roman Bürki to give LAFC a 1-0 lead in the 59th minute.
In the 75th minute, St. Louis was reduced to 10-men when Markanich was shown his second yellow card and was sent off.
Late in second-half stoppage time, LAFC put the game out of reach when Bouanga scored his second of the game and eighth of the season. With the hosts throwing numbers forward in search of a late equalizer, Bouanga was able to steal the ball off the foot of a St. Louis defender near midfield and race the length of the field alone before delicately chipping his shot over Bürki and into the net, giving LAFC a 2-0 victory.
LAFC now has a week off before returning to action at home against Loudoun United in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Round of 16 on Tuesday, May 21. (That match will be streamed on usopencup.com, MLSSoccer.com, and uslsoccer.com.) The club returns to MLS action on Saturday, May 25, when it travels east to take on Atlanta United at 4:30 p.m. PT. (That match will be broadcast on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, 710 AM ESPN LA, 980 AM La Mera Mera (Esp), and SiriusXM FC.)
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