LAFC’s run through Leagues Cup 2024 so far looks like a normal summer, heavy with Western Conference foes. That could change if the Black & Gold gets past the Seattle Sounders on Saturday at Lumen Field (5:00 p.m. PT; MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, 710 AM ESPN LA, the ESPN LA app, and 980 AM La Mera Mera).
The winner of that Quarterfinal matchup – between the two clubs that have earned more wins and points than any other teams in the Western Conference since LAFC joined MLS in 2018 – could face a Leagues Cup Semifinal date with Club América if the Liga MX giant gets past the Colorado Rapids in their Quarterfinal matchup. That one will kick off at 7:00 p.m. PT on Saturday, just as the LAFC-Seattle match is ending.
In all, the four Quarterfinal matches that will play out on Saturday represent the beginning of the end of a thrilling tournament that began just three weeks ago, when all 47 teams in MLS and Liga MX had a shot at the 22-pound silver bowl that’ll be handed to the champion.
After LAFC dispatched Club Tijuana in its Leagues Cup opener, it has faced Vancouver, Austin, and San Jose—three teams it has faced a combined 12 times since the start of the 2023 regular season. The new wrinkle in that familiar run came last Tuesday night, when famed French striker Olivier Giroud made his debut for LAFC following his goal-filled foray in three of Europe’s Big 5 leagues, plus a World-Cup victory with France, for whom he has scored more goals than any other player.
The towering Giroud, wearing his new number 9 kit, jogged onto the field at BMO Stadium in the 71st minute of the 4-1 win over San Jose. His objective that night was not goal production, but physical preparation.
“Yeah, the minutes tonight were calculated, not dependent on the result,” said LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo. “It's part of basically his preseason we have to put him through while we’re in a competition. Minutes in a real game are not replicable in training, and so we need to use the games for him to find his optimal fitness again and it's just a matter of time.”
“I received a very warm welcome from everybody at the club,” Giroud said after the match, “the staff, the players, everybody who’s working at the club. I felt like I was welcome, like part of a family. I wish I could play even more tonight. But it's better to restart step by step. I felt very good on the pitch and I'm looking forward for the next game.”
“It is a source of pride for us to be able to count on him,” LAFC captain Ilie Sánchez said of Giroud, whose last game action came on July 9, in France’s 2-1 semifinal loss to Ilie’s home country, Spain, in EURO 2024. “I want him to adapt very well to the group, to the city, to our fans. He is one more piece, a great piece that is very important for us, who will surely help us from now until the end of the season.”
Giroud’s 19-minute shift was followed – as all LAFC home wins are – with a warm celebration on the field that saw players’ families and the club’s supporters revel in the result.
“I loved it,” said a beaming Giroud. “I love it because in Europe it is a bit different. Sometimes we can bring the kids in the dressing room, but it's very, very rare. It's not common to have them on the pitch to celebrate. So yeah, all the kids, the players and the crowd, the fans, it's such a great feeling. It makes you understand that you have arrived in a proper family. Seeing [children] playing in the dressing room, playing football, taking the picture after the manager speech, all together, it's the life I was looking for. I'm very happy. I think you can see it in my smile.”
ON TO SEATTLE
Now those grinning faces in the LAFC dressing room turn stern again. Matchups with the Sounders are always tooth-and-nail affairs with high stakes. Seattle, perennially a Western Conference power, has bounced back from a rough run early in MLS play and is coming off a 4-0 throttling of proud Mexican club Pumas UNAM this past Monday.
“It's a great squad, well coached,” said Cherundolo. “[Head coach] Brian [Schmetzer] has done amazing work with them over all the years, very successful, very proud squad too. They don't like to lose and I think the last one stung a little bit [LAFC’s 3-0 win in Seattle on July 20] and so they're gonna come with everything they have and the winner goes to the Semifinals.”
“Seattle is a club with similar aspirations to the ones we have here at LAFC,” Sánchez added in Spanish, “and for us it is always a motivation to be able to compete against them to continue advancing in tournaments as important as the Leagues Cup. We will also face each other in the Open Cup at the end of the month [on Aug. 28] and we did it in the playoffs last year [a 1-0 Black & Gold win]. We are used to playing against big teams, and that is how we’ll face this.”
Cherundolo said that Giroud will be available to play on the artificial turf at Lumen Field; Giroud said he’s game. “I’m not used to it, but no problem, I will adapt,” Giroud said. “I understand that a lot of stadiums here in the U.S. have synthetic grass, but yeah, I need to adapt. I need to get used to it because we will play more games on this kind of pitch. As long as I feel good, I'm ready.”
BOUANGA ABLAZE
Denis Bouanga scored his 60th goal in an LAFC shirt against the Earthquakes Tuesday night, converting his 14th straight penalty kick without a miss since he joined the club in July 2022. He added a vintage transition strike in the 66th minute, sealing his third multi-goal game in seven all-time Leagues Cup appearances.
The French-born winger and reigning MLS Golden Boot winner now has 10 goals all-time in Leagues Cup, tying him for first place in that category with his former Ligue 1 opponent Lionel Messi, who tallied 10 Leagues Cup goals for Inter Miami last summer but has yet to play in the 2024 competition due to injury.
Bouanga leads all MLS players in career Leagues Cup goal contributions with 16 (10 goals, six assists), ranking ahead of Messi’s 14 (10 goals, four assists).
The explanation for Bouanga’s video-game numbers in Leagues Cup play is simple, Cherundolo said. “Denis is a gamer. He shows up. Maybe the bigger the game is on the line, maybe he is a little more focused.”
Bouanga, speaking French, said his Leagues Cup production is more of a team thing. “This would be the first trophy for the club [this season]. We're trying to win this first cup. Every match for us is a final. We're trying to go all the way.”
ODDS & ENDS
There’s a chance, Cherundolo added, that midfielder Timmy Tillman could be selected to appear against the Sounders if his recovery from a recent leg injury keeps progressing. “It's getting close,” Cherundolo said of the USMNT veteran whose selfless shifts carried the team through a challenging stretch early in the season. “I'm not sure if he'll be available for next match—just labeled as questionable for now—but I'm hopeful for the one after that, if it's not this time.”
LAFC has reached the Quarterfinals of Leagues Cup each year that the competition has been played (2023 and 2024). The Philadelphia Union is the only other MLS club to achieve that feat.
LAFC is 5W-1L-1D all-time in Leagues Cup, including 5W-0L-1D at BMO Stadium. In those seven total games, LAFC has outscored its opponents 24-7, including 22-4 at BMO Stadium.
Cristian Olivera now has four goals in Leagues Cup 2024, tying him with Bouanga for the second-most in the competition this year. The 22-year-old Uruguayan assisted on Bouanga’s second goal against San Jose.
