The only MLS team to appear in a conference semifinal in each of the last three seasons placed itself there again Friday night, when LAFC defeated Vancouver 1-0 in Game 3 of their Round One Best-of-3 MLS Cup Playoff Series. The heroes for LAFC were many, but atop the list were the 22,000 faithful on hand at BMO Stadium, and each of the 15 players who stepped onto the field wearing black – players who were determined to exit it with a ticket to the league’s Elite Eight.
Those 15 players’ collective push made the difference. Their individual quality helped, but their relentlessness as a unit is what has consistently worn good teams down during manager Steve Cherundolo’s two-plus years in charge. And make no mistake, the Whitecaps – who defeated LAFC 3-0 last weekend and won the Canadian Championship and will join LAFC in the Concacaf Champions Cup field in 2025 – are a good team.
“I know on paper it was one against eight as far as seeds go,” Cherundolo said. “But it's certainly much, much closer than that. They're an excellent team.”
Up next is another home match, this one on Nov. 23 against Seattle, the team LAFC defeated in last year’s Western Conference Semifinal, and in this year’s U.S. Open Cup Semifinal – both by a score of 1-0.
Both of those victories were earned in Washington State. This match will take place in the Heart of LA, where LAFC has amassed the best regular-season home record in all of MLS since 2018, and where this year’s group has lost just twice in 27 fixtures across all competitions (20W-2L-5D).
When Inter Miami – the top seed in the East – was eliminated Saturday night, LAFC was assured that it will play at home for the rest of this postseason, however long it lasts. And they want it to last a while. “The still the job is not done,” said Mateusz Bogusz, who scored Friday’s matchwinner. “Three games to go.”
THE PRESSURE
Playing against LAFC is stressful. Like gravity, the team’s will refuses to let up. Lost in the story of this deciding Game 3, which felt like a Final, is the pressure that each of the 15 players who appeared for the Black & Gold applied to Vancouver. Like the anxiety that Cristian Olivera imposed on the Whitecaps’ back line and its goalkeeper for the entire first half, running at them when they were in possession, even when he knew his work wouldn’t have an immediate impact, knowing that the impact would come later, perhaps when he wasn’t even on the field.
Or the non-stop pressure that Denis Bouanga applies in every match he plays. A master of winning the 15-round prizefight, Bouanga constantly harries opponents, wearing them down, his work rate robbing defenders of their legs until they cave.
One of only two MLS players to total 20 goals and 10 assists in the regular season (Lionel Messi is the other), Bouanga was worthy of being named a finalist for the Landon Donovan MLS MVP Award.
Bouanga’s quiet vengeance for that slight is that none of those five finalists is still playing.
Championship-level clubs must also know how to accept pressure, and there may be no team with a stronger chin than the defending Western Conference champs, who willingly cede possession, faithful in their 11-man commitment to defending, and in the gifts of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, who batted away at full stretch a Brian White shot in the 27th minute that should have given the visitors a 1-0 advantage.
LAFC allowed Vancouver to own the ball for more than 60 percent of the match and to complete 200 more passes than they completed themselves – most of them during a grueling opening half when LAFC bobbed and weaved, its back on the ropes.
“At halftime our message to the guys was, Look, it's 0-0. We didn't play great, but I'm not sure Vancouver can play much better,” said Cherundolo. “And we can.”
TACTICAL SHIFT
Through the series’ first two games, and through the first half of Game 3, Vancouver had found success by simply clogging the midfield with more men than LAFC placed there. It was simple math: the Caps’ four midfielders against just two placed there in LAFC’s 5-2-3 formation.
“All that changed in the second half,” said Cherundolo, who made the decision at halftime to switch to a 4-3-3 formation, bringing on midfielder Eduard Atuesta to replace centerback Marlon [Marlon Santos da Silva Barbosa].
Atuesta, the LAFC Original and a creative box-to-box midfielder – joined two teammates who also fit that bill, starting midfielders Timmy Tillman and Lewis O’Brien. Together they assumed control of the match, along with striker Olivier Giroud, who came on for Olivera and would provide a crucial bit of pressure at the moment of truth.
The 5-2-3 setup LAFC began the game with had served the club well during the summer. “We had a really good run of results, especially in the Leagues Cup,” Lloris said, “so [the 5-2-3] gave us stability and confidence. But [we] could see that right now, especially against Vancouver, it was not enough.”
“I think tactically our coaches were brilliant in this game switching to the 4-3-3,” said defender Aaron Long, who wore the captain’s armband until he gave it to another midfielder, Ilie Sánchez, in the 82nd minute. “I think that formation change leading into the second half helped us a lot or maybe caught them off guard a little bit, and it really gave us a leg up for that last 45-minute push. It kind of changed the game for us.”
“Taking away the numerical advantage in midfield, or at least reducing it by one,” Cherundolo said, “made all the world of difference for us … Once the game got fast, that's kind of [in] our wheelhouse, and then it's tough to play against us. And I think it was only a matter of time until we scored the first goal.”
The moment arrived in the 62nd minute, when the Whitecaps were the team under pressure, having conceded two straight corner kicks. Goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka, playing with the ball at his feet, was pressured by Giroud into lofting a blind pass toward the center of the park, where Long and Caps striker Brian White were jousting for position.
Long knew that if he got his next movement wrong, White and his 15 regular-season goals would be off to the races with a 3-v-2 mismatch.
Long did not get it wrong.
“I just do what the coaches tell me and head as far up the field as I can in those moments,” Long explained, “and try to pick out a guy and see if we can catch him on a quick counter.”
Mateusz Bogusz, the man Long picked out, cleverly tapped Long’s ball past Vancouver’s centerback then ran around him to receive his self-pass and finish it past Takaoka. The 22-year-old Polish international offered a military salute to the frenzied crowd, either to thank them, or to say, That was for you, or both.
“I haven't seen the replay yet,” Long said, “but I saw a glimpse on the big screen and Mati's first touch looked unbelievable, how he was able to get around that guy, and a brilliant finish.”
“This happened so quick, you know,” Bogusz said. “I didn't even think, I just saw the ball, I saw him, then he's very close to me. So I needed to act so quick.”
“It's not the way we prepare actions and chances,” said Lloris, “but [Bogusz] was there at the right time … and he took it with his talent, one-v-one, and then we know that he is a great finisher.”
“I'm very happy with my goal,” said Bogusz. “It was my first in the playoffs because last season I didn't score. But most important is that we advance for the next round … That was the point, to win this game and advance for the next round.”
There were nervy moments near the end, as LAFC protected its slim advantage while searching in vain for the second goal, but the result more than justified the agony of reaching it. “I would have preferred for us to keep our foot on the gas a little longer,” Cherundolo said. “But in the end, we also showed what we can do as well is keep a clean sheet. And that's also very important.”
“I believe that part of the process,” Lloris added. “It’s the first round of the playoff. And sometimes you have to suffer and to face difficulties to grow and become better.”
THE SEASON OF MATI
LAFC scored three goals against Vancouver in this three-game series. Bogusz played a direct role in each of them:
His shot on target in the 27th minute of Game 1 was blocked by a defender’s forearm, setting up Bouanga’s penalty-kick goal. Bogusz also assisted Olivera in Game 1, providing the difference in a 2-1 victory. Then came Friday night’s improvisational masterpiece, his 20th goal across all competitions in 2024.
“I can't say I'm surprised,” a beaming Bogusz said when asked about his breakout season. “I played this season a lot of positions, so I'm happy with myself.”
“Credit to Mati, he understands our tactics,” Cherundolo said. “He listens, he adapts to them, but he still uses his tools that he has in different areas of the field and I think that makes him very difficult to defend. Yeah, he took his goal very well. Every touch was perfect and his idea and that he had in his head, he implemented very well and he implemented at the highest pace possible at that moment … and just a class finish.”
When Bogusz was asked if he expected to score 20 goals this year, he grinned again. “I'm surprised too, you know. I knew it was going to be a good season because when I play a little bit higher I have a couple of situations where I can score goals. But I didn't expect 20 goals, and there still is three games, so I hope I’m going to score more.”
“I can't describe a lot,” he added. “I'm so happy. I still don't know what happened.”
FIFA INTERNATIONAL WINDOW
Bogusz (Poland), Bouanga (Gabon), Olivera (Uruguay), forward Nathan Ordaz (El Salvador), and ageless striker Kei Kamara (Sierra Leone) have each been called to compete for their national teams over the next ten days. They will return to LA in time for the playoff match against the Sounders.
Barely.
“We get guys back two days before the next game, which, I'm just not sure that's the proper way to end the season,” Cherundolo said. “But we've done it before. We've done it all year. So we accept the terms obviously, and we'll make the best of it … International windows are tough for us, we lose a bunch of players.”
“It's tough,” said Bogusz, “because we don't want the break in the middle of the playoffs, but it's the life … it's the league. So I can't say nothing. I just need to go. And I'm very happy to get called. It is a pleasure to play for national team. So nothing to say, just go there, do the work there and come back here.”
Hugo Lloris has retired from international play after competing in two World Cup Finals for France, so he’ll remain in Los Angeles. “We have two weeks, and there is time to rest, but there is also time to work,” Lloris said, “because we need the last push. We wish all our international teammates to perform well and to come back safe because, yes, we have a big moment ahead of us and we need everybody at our best.”
Added Bogusz: “Seattle is coming here. It’s another good, good team.”
ANOTHER CLASH OF TITANS
For LAFC, nearly nine months and 48 matches have come and gone since it hosted Seattle in both clubs’ regular-season opener back on February 24. Four of those 48 matches were played against the Sounders. LAFC won all four.
In those four victories, LAFC outscored the Sounders 9-1 and knocked them out of both the Leagues Cup and the U.S. Open Cup – with both wins coming on the road.
LAFC is 8W-0L-2D in its last 10 games against the Sounders, and has won each of the last three knockout matches it has played against its conference rival (the 2023 Western Conference Semifinal, 2024 Leagues Cup Quarterfinal, and 2024 U.S. Open Cup Semifinal).
“Sometimes when you play a team and see a team a lot,” Cherundolo said, “you tend to fall into certain rhythms and habits against that team. There is a danger there. You really need to approach each game individually. Even if you've won 40 in a row, the 41st needs to be approached in the same manner as the first 40. And even if you've won them all or you've lost them all, I don't think the approach changes. The more you get into that psychological spiral, ‘Oh, we've won, We're gonna win again,’ or, ‘Oh, they're bound to win at least one, so maybe this is the time’ – when you start to think like that – that's wrong … We don't do that at LAFC. We treat every game individually.”
Long pointed out that Seattle “has been very, very good to end the season … they're on fire right now in the playoffs, a ton of attacking weapons, very good on the ball in possession, and their defense is one of the best in the league ... Another team that has a lot of leaders, and a club that is very experienced in the playoffs. I think that's something that they pride themselves on, is how well they do in the playoffs. So it's gonna be tough. It's the playoffs. It's always tough.”
Asked if he would be following Team France closely during Les Bleus’ November schedule, Lloris said, “No, no, no. I'm focused on my life in LA … For me and for us, for the players that stay here, it's just a a good period to rest, and also to recharge the engine, because there is more to come, and we have to increase our level.”
LAFC will host Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday, November 23, at 7:30 p.m. PT at BMO Stadium in the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs Western Conference Semifinals. Tickets are *on sale now*. The match will be broadcast on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, 710 AM ESPN LA, the ESPN LA app, and 980 AM La Mera Mera (Spanish).
