It all comes down to this. The home field that we talked about so much throughout the season, could pay dividends for LAFC. The black & gold face off against Vancouver Whitecaps in a winner take all Game 3 in the MLS Cup Playoffs. BMO is the stage, and LAFC will be hoping the atmosphere provided by the 3252 will help push them over the line, and into the conference semifinals with a win tonight.
Under the lights 🏟️ pic.twitter.com/T9hbyXiNZj
— LAFC (@LAFC) November 9, 2024
Can’t say its too surprising to see Vancouver come out the way they did for this match. They were more defensively focused, with a nice hefty low block for LAFC to contend with, while looking for their opening in the counter attack to try and steal a win on the road. The plan nearly worked on several occasions with the Whitecaps coming close to taking the lead early. The visitors finished the half with far more possession (62%) and twice as many shots as LAFC (8), that featured a couple of attempts that had Lloris and LAFC, holding their breaths on.
LAFC looked on the ropes for most of the first half. The team only mustered four shots in the first half, and spent most of the first 45 defending for their lives as they looked to prevent the early goal for Vancouver. They did their job, taking a goalless scoreline into break with the teams even at zero.
After starting on the bench, Olivier Giroud was brought on to start the second half, along with midfielder Eduard Atuesta, as Head Coach Steve Cherundolo looked to avoid some late tension with a goal early in the half. The change seemed to be just what was needed as the team immediately looked far more dangerous. The chances were starting to pile up fast and LAFC came close to taking the lead several times.
After knocking, knocking, and knocking, the black & gold finally got their all-important goal. In the 62nd minute it was Mateusz Bogusz who got on the end of a nice pass, took on his defender, found his space and without any hesitation put it past the keeper for the lead. The goal was also the midfielder’s 20th goal across all competitions.
Interception ➡️ Score
Mateusz Bogusz slots it home to give us the lead.#LAFCvVAN 1-0 pic.twitter.com/ho9ke7Vuub
— LAFC (@LAFC) November 9, 2024
The goal was a bit of a wake up call for the visitors, who nearly found the equalizer just moments later. They did put the ball into the back of the net on a corner, but former LAFC defender and goal scorer, Tristan Blackmon, was ruled offside and the goal disallowed. The final 15 minutes of the match were pretty much Whitecaps throwing everything they could at the goal in hopes of finding the equalizer, and LAFC doing all they could to defend. LAFC did well to see out the match, while it wasn’t pretty, the playoffs have always been about surviving and advancing. The boys did just that tonight as they held on until the final whistle, coming away with the win, and setting up a Western Conference Semifinals match, at home, against rivals, Seattle Sounders. Reminder, the best-of-three series format ends now, as it’s win or go home from here on out. Once again it will be a matchup between two sides that are all too familiar with one another, especially when it comes to matches in the postseason.
Thoughts on the win? Leave a comment below!