The goal that knocks Carlos Vela off top spot
In the 53rd minute, Denis Bouanga slid a Son Heung-Min pass in at the back post. Nothing flashy in the finish. Everything in the number. It was his 79th regular-season goal in a LAFC shirt, one more than Carlos Vela, the club’s first Designated Player, a league MVP and Golden Boot winner in 2019, now a co-owner and ambassador.
Bouanga needed 127 regular-season matches to get there. Vela had played 152 to score his 78. Another marker: since the start of the 2023 season, the Gabon international has scored 78 regular-season goals, nine more than Lionel Messi over the same stretch.
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An hour with ten men
The game had already swung long before that. Son Heung-Min opened the scoring in the 34th minute, set up by Mark Delgado in the centre circle, curling a left-foot shot from 25 yards that tucked just inside Angus Gunn’s post. Two minutes later, captain Aaron Long was sent off for denying a clear goalscoring chance inside his own box.
Marc Dos Santos immediately took off striker Armindo Sieb and sent on defender Nkosi Tafari. Down to 10, LAFC still doubled the lead through Bouanga, then battened down the hatches. Hugo Lloris pushed away a Preston Judd header in the 80th minute, then a Timo Werner effort moments later, then a Jack Skahan header in the 86th.
Reid Roberts punishes LAFC in the 98th minute
Judd had cut the gap to one in the 70th, diving in to head home a cross from Werner from the right flank. There were 20 minutes left to survive. Los Angeles almost got through them.
In the eighth and final minute of stoppage time, centre-back Reid Roberts lined one up with his left foot from 30 yards. Lloris dived. The ball went inside the post. 2-2 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
LAFC leave Northern California with 41 points, a record of 11 wins, 8 losses and 8 draws, and a place in the Western Conference top six. Son Heung-Min, meanwhile, now has 13 assists in regular-season play, tied with Messi for the league lead.
Trip to Dallas next Saturday.
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