LOS ANGELES – A tight first half gave way to a lopsided second as the Los Angeles Football Club overwhelmed the Vancouver Whitecaps to grab an advantage in the MLS Cup playoffs Best-of-3 opening round.
Two goals apiece by Denis Bouanga and Ryan Hollingshead, as well as a late capper by defender Jesus Murillo, pushed LAFC past Vancouver 5-2 as the series moves to Canada next Sunday, Nov. 5, a year to the day that the Black & Gold won its first MLS Cup.
Bouanga became LAFC’s leading postseason scorer and the first player with the club to post more than one multi-goal playoff game. His brace gave him 35 goals for the calendar year, three behind Carlos Vela’s record performance in 2019.
It also marked the 10th time this year that the MLS MVP finalist produced more than one goal, giving him eight finishes in the club’s last four contests.
Prior to the second half outburst, an unattractive opening 15 minutes produced zero shots from either side. The teams then traded blows and alternated four goals over a 26 minute stretch, making it 2-2 at the half.
Following a well-executed set play in the Vancouver box that earned LAFC a corner kick, Hollingshead nearly capitalized on a Carlos Vela delivery, pounding down a header at the far post.
A diving save by Whitecaps goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka denied the offensive-minded fullback, but Hollingshead collected the rebound and slotted in a tight-angle shot with his left foot for the lead.
Like they did last weekend in Canada on Decision Day, Vancouver leveled the match due in large part to a defensive lapse from the defending champions.
Passing the ball back and forth in their own end, LAFC seemed content to slow down play but then centerback Jesus Murillo opted to push the ball forward. Needlessly giving away a pass to no one allowed Vancouver an instant counterattack for the Whitecaps top scorer, forward Brian White, whose shot was redirected off a sliding Giorgio Chiellini past goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau.
“Look, we made two errors and two mistakes and it turned into two goals,” said LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo. “It was just one of those moments where, again, we make life very difficult on ourselves and our mistakes are being punished. But what I was very happy to see was the answer from the guys and the mentality. Urgency, I think is a good word, to play forward, to be proactive, to be the aggressor and to force the issue to score more goals.”
A couple of minutes later fhe first of Vancouver’s two equalizers was wiped away thanks to Bouanga, LAFC’s third Golden Boot winner. A ball over the top by Chiellini led to a flick from the head of defender Diego Palacios, putting the ball at Bouanga’s feet. The Frenchman stormed into the box, made a touch to his right, and unleashed a shot that Takaoka had no hope of stopping.
Again Vancouver got back into the game due to a self-inflicted wound by Murillo.
The strong Colombian, who overcame a troubling ankle sprain during the season to regain a starting spot late in the year, committed a foul in a spot that gave Whitecaps playmaker Ryan Gauld a chance.
Off the free kick the Scottish Designated Player floated the ball toward the middle of LAFC’s box, where Mateusz Bogusz got outjumped by Vancouver’s Sam Adekugbe for the game-tying header.
“The performance was good except for the fact that sometimes we were too excited,” Vancouver head coach Vanni Sartini said. “Excitement is something they build on and we need to be the other way around.
“We can’t put down the guard because the only way to beat this strong team is to be perfect,” he said, noting that their defending on the set pieces could have been better.
LAFC got a good look at the Whitecaps organization on set plays on Decision Day, and leading up to Game 1, LAFC assistant coach Marc dos Santos, a former Whitecaps head coach, made adjustments, including freeing Hollingshead to attack the ball.
In the 53rd minute, the defender scored his second corner kick induced chance when the ball landed in front of him as he was ready to pounce inside the six-yard box.
Eleven minutes later, Bouanga made it 4-2 when Vela began a set piece outside the Whitecaps box that let the French forward run onto it with his favored right foot and smash a low shot that split two defenders.
“Those sorts of things are crucial in games like this and that’s exactly what happened tonight,” Hollingshead said.
Murillo then earned a bit of payback when he got on the board in the 80th minute with a header off a corner kick, one of 12 LAFC took during the first of three possible games in the series.
“Certainly we’d love to end the series in Vancouver,” Cherundolo said. “That will be our objective. We want to play the exact same way we play here. I’m 100% positive Vancouver will play a little more aggressively and try to press us more like they did when they were down tonight. I expect that from minute one.”
