LAFC officially qualified for the Leagues Cup Round of 32 thanks to a 2-2 draw with the Vancouver Whitecaps on Tuesday night at BMO Stadium. Late goals from Kei Kamara and Mateusz Bogusz helped the home side pick up the point it needed to guarantee a top two finish in Group West 7, and a spot in the knockout stages of the competition, despite falling 4-2 in the ensuing shootout.
LAFC picked up a point to leave the club with four points from its two Group Stage games. LAFC’s Round-of-32 opponent will be decided on Saturday, August 3. LAFC currently tops Group West 7 with four points while Vancouver has two points and Club Tijuana, which LAFC defeated 3-0 on Friday night, has no points.
Vancouver opened the scoring in the fifth minute thanks to a long-range strike from Sebastian Berhalter. Twelve minutes later, the visitors would score again as Ranko Veselinović headed in a Berhalter corner kick to give Vancouver a 2-0 lead at the half.
Throughout the second half, LAFC threw numbers forward in search of a way back into the game, but did not cut into the Whitecaps’ advantage until the 88th minute. Kei Kamara, who has 147 regular-season goals in his MLS career, scored his first Leagues Cup goal in an LAFC shirt, heading in a Denis Bouanga cross to make the score 2-1.
LAFC would continue to push for an equalizer, and it came in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time. Sergi Palencia’s right-wing cross found David Martínez at the top of the box, and Martínez's left-footed volley bounced high into the box, allowing Bogusz to sneak in behind the Whitecaps defense and head the ball past Vancouver goalkeeper Isaac Boehmer to tie the score, 2-2.
The match would be decided on penalties, with the Whitecaps converting all four of their attempts to win the shootout 4-2.
NEWS & NOTES
- With the draw, LAFC is now 18-5-6 in all competitions in 2024. The club is 14-5-5 in MLS play, 3-0-0 in the U.S. Open Cup and now 1-0-1 in Leagues Cup.
- At BMO Stadium, LAFC is 12-1-4 in 2024.
- LAFC has now faced Vancouver five times outside of the MLS regular season, going 4-0-1 in those matches.
- LAFC is 3-1-1 all-time in Leagues Cup, including 3-0-1 at BMO Stadium. In those four home games, LAFC has outscored its opponents 16-3.
- Mateusz Bogusz’s 95th-minute goal was LAFC’s latest-ever goal in Leagues Cup and equals the club’s latest goal this season. Denis Bouanga also scored in the 95th minute of a 2-2 draw with New York on April 20.
- David Martínez picked up an assist on Bogusz’s goal. That was his first-ever assist in Leagues Cup and his second in an LAFC shirt. His only other assist for the club came on March 23 against Nashville.
- Kei Kamara scored LAFC’s first goal in the 88th minute. That was his fifth goal in all competitions for the club.
- Both of Kamara’s Leagues Cup goals have been scored after the 80th minute in games in which he came off the bench.
- Denis Bouanga was credited with an assist on Kamara’s goal, giving him three assists in the competition this year.
- Bouanga has at least one assist in all five Leagues Cup games in which he has appeared.
- Bouanga has scored or assisted on 13 of the club’s 18 goals all-time in the competition.
- In 2024, Bouanga has 17 goals and 14 assists in all competitions, giving him 31 goal involvements on the year. He has either scored or assisted on half of the 62 goals LAFC has scored in all competitions in 2024.
- Goalkeeper Abraham Romero made his Leagues Cup debut, starting in place of Hugo Lloris, finishing with two saves.
