LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Football Club slammed the door on its second-longest scoring drought in six years and secured a fifth playoff berth in that span, thrashing Minnesota United FC, 5-1, Wednesday night in its final home game of the regular season at BMO Stadium.
Forward Denis Bouanga’s first-half hat trick moved the Frenchman into the Major League Soccer Golden Boot lead with 17 goals, one better than FC Cincinnati midfielder Luciano Acosta with two games left before the playoffs.
As he has throughout his first full season with LAFC, Bouanga referenced the importance of LAFC scoring first in his pre-match comments.
Coach Steve Cherundolo’s group was just 1-10-1 the previous 12 times they conceded the opening goal.
But Minnesota (9-12-11, 38 points), stuck below the playoff line, put the defending MLS champions in a hole four minutes into the match.
Polish midfielder Mateusz Bogusz, starting for an injured Kellyn Acosta, struck a curling cross as seven LAFC players operated in the Minnesota box.
Opposing midfielder Kervin Arriaga rejected it with his head, drilling the ball directly at Loons star Emanuel Reynoso to begin a counterattack.
The Argentine No. 10 burst up the center of the field, combining with forwards Teemu Pukki and Bongokule Hlongwane, before receiving the ball again deep inside the LAFC box.
Reynoso danced away from a recovering Bogusz and at close range drove the ball into goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau. The redirected shot floated in front of LAFC’s open net, leading to a simple header for Hassani Dotson’s second goal of the season.
“I will not share with you what I was feeling,” Cherundolo said. “I’m sure you can imagine. It was very early and we had started the game very well, so everything led me to the conclusion to calm down, just continue the course. It’ll be fine. But obviously, the other side of you is thinking ‘not again.’”
Scoreless in its four previous matches, LAFC’s early deficit and 372-minute funk ended when Bouanga picked up the ball in the box in the sixth minute thanks to assists by Bogusz and Carlos Vela, beating goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair with his left foot.
LAFC hadn’t scored since Timothy Tillman’s late goal in its 4-2 “El Trafico” victory over the Galaxy on Sept. 16, and Bouanga’s two goals that night were his only goals over an eight-game stretch.
“I was overthinking in front of goal,” Bouanga admitted. “Today I asked myself the right questions and I just decided to play by instinct, play my game and that’s what I will do for the next games now. I won’t overthink.”
A half-hour later, Bouanga added a dramatic second goal for what proved to be the game-winner.
Taking a hard fall in front of the Minnesota bench, Bouanga limped and rubbed his left hip while slowly moving behind the play.
“It hurt but I’m attracted to score,” he said.
By the time the powerful attacker reached the box, defender Diego Palacios, making his 100th MLS appearance, delivered another perfect cross near the end line that hung in the air for Bouanga to hammer home a volley.
Then, a minute into stoppage time, Bouanga deftly controlled the ball in the box off a corner kick, tapped it to his right and smashed a tight-angled shot between St. Clair and the near post before the break.
After having never scored a hat trick as a professional, it marked the fourth time in all competitions he accomplished the feat in 2023 – a prolific campaign featuring 30 goals to become the fifth MLS player to reach that mark in a calendar year.
LAFC’s fourth of the game occurred shortly after the restart with an own goal by Minnesota defender Miguel Tapias.
Following a trio of substitutions an hour in, Filip Krastev scored his first MLS goal by intercepting a pass at midfield, barreling down the Minnesota side of the pitch to put it away with this right foot in the 67th minute.
“It’s a little bit like riding a bike,” Cherundolo said regarding his players’ offensive outburst. “The guys know how to do it. They know how to play. They know how to score. We were quite happy with our ball progression tonight from back to front. The speed of play was a little quicker. The speed of passing was faster.
“The end result of trying to get off the edge and create chances was more of what we like to see and what we’re striving for, and tonight it worked.”
LAFC fired 29 shots, putting 14 on target, and held Minnesota to two tries that threatened Crepeau in another strong defensive effort as the playoffs come into view.
Now third in the Western Conference, a point behind Seattle, which defeated the Galaxy on Wednesday night, LAFC (13-10-9, 48 points) completed the home portion of its MLS regular-season schedule at 10-4-3.
LAFC’s last two matches are in Austin on Saturday and then Decision Day in Vancouver. With St. Louis City clinching the Western Conference title, finishing as the No. 2 seed is LAFC’s mission while gearing up for the postseason.
“In the end it’s the players deciding, OK, enough is enough,” Cherundolo said. “It’s now the time to start being more effective and they did tonight.”
1⃣5⃣ on the season for 9⃣9⃣
📺 Watch for free on #MLSSeasonPass: https://t.co/yNYyDkIrgU pic.twitter.com/CatRrpk9Mg
— LAFC (@LAFC) October 5, 2023
Psst… Denis is tied for the lead in the Golden Boot race. 👀
📺 Watch for free on #MLSSeasonPass: https://t.co/yNYyDkIZ6s pic.twitter.com/RD5tr6NMRl
— LAFC (@LAFC) October 5, 2023
🚨 FIRST-HALF HAT TRICK 🚨
📺 Watch for free on #MLSSeasonPass: https://t.co/yNYyDkIZ6s pic.twitter.com/9c1u26b6Tb
— LAFC (@LAFC) October 5, 2023
Olivera called bank. 😉
📺 Watch for free on #MLSSeasonPass: https://t.co/yNYyDkIZ6s pic.twitter.com/tJWK4mwM6T
— LAFC (@LAFC) October 5, 2023
Goal and griddy? Perfect, no notes.
📺 Watch for free on #MLSSeasonPass: https://t.co/yNYyDkIZ6s pic.twitter.com/aYqJJjXofR
— LAFC (@LAFC) October 5, 2023
