LAFC advanced to the Leagues Cup Final for the first time in club history with a 4-0 win over the Colorado Rapids on Wednesday night at BMO Stadium. LAFC will now face the Columbus Crew in the Leagues Cup 2024 Final on Sunday, Aug. 25, at Lower.com Field. The championship match is scheduled to kick off at 4:15 p.m. PT and can be seen on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV. Radio coverage will be available on the ESPN LA App, 710 AM ESPN, and KFWB 980 AM La Mera Mera.
The victory also secured a spot for LAFC in next year’s Concacaf Champions Cup. The winner of Sunday’s Leagues Cup Final will qualify directly to the Round of 16 in Concacaf Champions Cup 2025.
LAFC took a two-goal lead over Colorado late in the first half after Mateusz Bogusz opened the scoring in the 42nd minute with a shot to the far post past a diving Zack Steffen. Three minutes later Kei Kamara doubled LAFC’s lead, scoring his third goal of the competition by finishing a leading pass from Ryan Hollingshead in the 45th minute.
The Black & Gold doubled their advantage again in the second half with goals from Denis Bouanga and recently acquired midfielder Lewis O’Brien. Bouanga scored his sixth goal of Leagues Cup 2024 in the 59thminute, finishing a solo run that started deep in his own half. The goal marked Bouanga’s 12th in the competition's two-year history, adding to his record as the all-time leading scorer in Leagues Cup. In just his second appearance for LAFC, O’Brien added the fourth goal in the 75th minute, collecting a headed clearance at the top of the box and slotting a left-footed shot past Steffen.
NEWS & NOTES
- LAFC has reached the Leagues Cup Final for the first time in club history.
- Under head coach Steve Cherundolo, LAFC has reached the finals of the Concacaf Champions Cup in 2023, the MLS Cup Final in 2022 and 2023, and now the Leagues Cup Final in 2024.
- LAFC is now 22-5-6 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 5-0-1 in Leagues Cup.
- LAFC is 7-1-1 all-time in Leagues Cup, outscoring its opponents 31-7.
- Since suffering a 3-1 loss to San Jose on May 4, LAFC has compiled an 18-1-3 record in all competitions.
- LAFC has conceded just one goal in its five Leagues Cup 2024 knockout-stage matches (a 41st-minute tally by San Jose’s Hernán Lopez in a 4-1 LAFC win on Aug. 13) and has outscored opponents 13-1 in those four elimination games.
- Bouanga now has 12 goals all-time in Leagues Cup, more than any other player. Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi is in second place on the all-time Leagues Cup scoring list with 10 goals. Bouanga's 18 goal contributions in Leagues Cup are also number-one all time.
- Bouanga has scored or assisted on a goal in all nine Leagues Cup games that LAFC has played.
- Bouanga has scored or assisted on 18 of the 31 goals that LAFC has scored all-time in Leagues Cup.
- Bouanga has six goals in Leagues Cup this year, placing him in a two-man tie for first place with Diego Rossi of Columbus.
- LAFC leads all clubs in goals scored in Leagues Cup 2024 with 18. Columbus is second with 11 goals scored.
- Hugo Lloris recorded his fourth clean sheet in five appearances in Leagues Cup 2024.
- Second-half substitute Lewis O’Brien made his BMO Stadium debut and scored his first goal in an LAFC shirt in the 75th minute, in his second appearance for LAFC. It was his first goal for an MLS club since April 15, 2023, when the English midfielder found the net for D.C. United in a 1-0 win over Montreal.
- LAFC remains undefeated in all competitions against Colorado at BMO Stadium, going 7-0-0 vs. the Rapids at home and outscoring them 21-2. LAFC has not conceded a goal to Colorado at BMO Stadium since May 2021.
- In three games against Colorado this year in all competitions, LAFC is 2-1-0 and has outscored the Rapids a combined 9-3, including a combined 7-0 in two games at BMO Stadium.
