The Los Angeles Football Club advanced to the quarterfinals of the inaugural Leagues Cup with a 4-0 win over Real Salt Lake on Tuesday night at BMO Stadium.
Against RSL, Denis Bouanga scored twice early in the second half to give LAFC a 2-0 lead. Bouanga, who now has five goals in Leagues Cup, was then credited with an assist as Nathan Ordaz scored his second goal in as many games, making the score 3-0 in the 62nd minute. Filip Krastev, who was making his LAFC debut, rounded out the scoring to give LAFC a 4-0 victory.
NEWS & NOTES
- This is the fifth in-season tournament in which LAFC has reached the quarterfinals, doing so in the 2020 and 2023 Concacaf Champions League as well as the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in both 2018 and 2019.
- After scoring the most goals in the Round of 32 with seven, LAFC was one of three teams to score four goals in the Round of 16, joining FC Dallas and Inter Miami who played to a 4-4 draw before Miami advanced on penalty kicks.
- LAFC’s 11 goals are tied for the third most in Leagues Cup this year. FC Dallas and Minnesota United each have 11 goals as well, while Inter Miami has scored 13 times and Toluca has scored 14 times. All four of those teams have played five games in the competition compared to just two for LAFC.
- Of LAFC’s 11 Leagues Cup goals, nine have been scored in the second half.
- LAFC is 15-0-3 in all competitions when scoring first.
- Denis Bouanga scored twice in the opening 11 minutes of the second half. He now has five goals in the competition, leaving him tied for third. Only Minnesota’s Bongokuhle Hlongwane and Miami’s Lionel Messi have scored more than Bouanga, tallying seven times each in Leagues Cup.
- Bouanga joins Messi as the only players with multiple goals in each of their team’s knockout round games.
- Bounaga now has 24 goals and eight assists in 31 games in all competitions this year. He has contributed to 32 of LAFC’s 62 goals in that time, meaning that he has factored in 51.6% of LAFC’s goals in 2023.
- The Gabon international now has six multi-goal games on the year, tallying two in MLS play, two in the Champions League and two in Leagues Cup.
- In addition to his five goals, Bouanga also has two assists, tying him for the team lead. Each of his assists set up Nathan Ordaz goals.
- After scoring his first goal for LAFC’s first team in the Round of 32 against Juarez, Ordaz made it two goals in two games with a close-range strike in the 62nd minute that made the score 3-0.
- Ordaz latter picked up an assist, his first of Leagues Cup on Filip Krastev’s late goal. Ordaz now has two goals and two assists in his last three games at BMO Stadium, dating back to the 3-0 win over St. Louis CITY on July 12.
- Filip Krastev, a Bulgarian international, came on in the 76th minute to make his LAFC debut. He scored his first goal 8:41 after entering the game to make the score 4-0.
- Mateusz Bogusz had two assists in the win, helping to set up Bounaga’s opening goal and Krastev’s final goal.
- Real Salt Lake had 10 shots in the game, but none were on target, meaning that John McCarthy did not need to make a save in order to record his first clean sheet
LAFC next faces Liga MX team Monterrey, on Friday Aug. 11 at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena at 7:30 p.m. PT. The game will be broadcast on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, 710 AM and 980 AM.
Ticketing information for the Quarterfinal match will be released on Wednesday, August 9.
