Close Menu
LAFC

LAFC 2, St. Louis SC 2: Denis, the menace

Bouanga's brace helps salvage the point at home over pesky St. Louis City SC
Trebor TracyBy 7 Mins Read
A brace for Bouanga helps salvage a point at home as his form continues. Photo courtesy of Los Angeles FC

When it comes to soccer, usually you are fine with having to split the points on the road, but typically and especially for teams like LAFC, the goal every time you hit the pitch at home, is to come away with the full three points. As infamous boxer Mike Tyson once said though, everyone has a plan until they get hit in the face. Los Angeles went into last night looking to keep St Louis City out of the win column against them, but more importantly, looked to build off the solid performances they put in the last couple of matches as they aim to find consistency and form for the MLS season push.

This is a cruel sport. For the first time all season, LAFC had their foot on the gas, pedal to the metal, and all the other analogies and metaphors you want to use to describe the fact they came out looking to win last night. Most of the time, the team has been happy giving up possession, sitting back, and finding their spots to counter. However last night, we saw a vintage LAFC that looked poise to unload goals on their opponent. This is where the cruelty of sport comes in. Despite finishing the half with over 70% possession, despite the 12 shots and four on target, despite completely dominating St. Louis for the first 45 minutes of the match, the halftime break whistle sounded with both teams even and scoreless.

Bouanga himself had several moments in the first half that were, for all intents and purposes, 1v1 moments against the goalkeeper, but he just couldn’t find the back of the net. For most of the first half, it very much felt like one of those, here we go, moments where we just watch as shot after shot narrowly misses for the club. One of the better looks at goal was literally saved by the face of St. Louis goalkeeper, Ben Lundt.

Any veteran sports watcher will tell you, these are the type of matches teams like LAFC worry about. Everything coming into last night said LAFC should get the win fairly easily. All the trends pointed towards LA, the current form heavily favored Los Angeles, being at home, players starting to find form, it all felt like the perfect time for a vintage thrashing by the black & gold. The fact it was scoreless by halftime, had everyone feeling the inevitability of a visitor goal. It didn’t take long either. In the 51st minute of the half St. Louis came out of nowhere with a couple of excellent passes that got behind the LAFC defense and ended with Cedric Teuchert needing just one chance to finish the pass off and get it past Lloris for the opener.

Not to let the vibes sour too much, it wasn’t long before we saw a response from the team. Denis Bouanga spent most of the first half knocking on the door of a goal. Ever so close on several occasions. After watching his team go down at home, he decided the time for knocking was over, and he had to just kick it down. Perhaps in this case, it was more lock pick the door than kick it down, as in the 70th minute, a gorgeous pass from Cengiz Ünder found Bouanga at the back post where he lightly tapped the ball over the line for the equalizer, continuing his impressive run of form as of late.

Despite being early evening, we started to see the signs of MLS After Dark. The chaos was cultivating. St. Louis, who had finished the first half with just a single shot, were starting to threaten and looked like a team ready for their first-ever win over LAFC. Just minutes after equalizing, the team were handed a lifeline in the form of a penalty, but it was Lundt who played hero and kept Denis Bouanga from converting and taking the lead for his side.

The pressures to find a winner kept building and the sense of urgency was at its peak as the match wound down. It all kicked off in the 83rd minute when St Louis Alfredo Morales was shown his second yellow card, turning it into a red card and seeing him sent off for the remainder of the match. Still, despite the disadvantage it was St. Louis who were able to retake the lead moments later. In the 89th minute, madness struck on a free kick for the visitors. LAFC keeper, Hugo Lloris tried to come out and punch away a free kick sent into the box, but missed, leaving the goal wide open. The ball bounced around, bodies flew every which way, several LAFC players were able to come to the rescue with goal line blocks, but in the end, it was a wayward touch from Nathan Ordaz trying to defend, that found its way into the net for the goal, giving the visitors the late lead.

Not to be undone at home, Denis Bouanga did what we haven’t seen all year, he put the team on his back and told them not to worry. In the final moments of the match, Bouanga had one more chance to play hero. After screaming down the width of the pitch, attacking the right side of the defense, he put together the filthiest goal we’ve seen all season. Taking on two defender, he was able to keep possession of the ball in the box, breaking ankles on a couple of deadly dribble moves, then, with a third defender closing in, he slammed home the chance with the smallest of windows to shoot, salvaging the point for LAFC at home.

“I didn’t feel pressure” said Denis Bouanga via translator after the match when asked how he felt scoring the winner so late. “I wanted to give back to the public because I missed the penalty. This draw is on me. I feel like if I would have scored the penalty, we would have won the match.” Even as he enjoys being a hero, he is still dwelling on the missed opportunities. A sign that the killer instinct is starting to come alive again for the Gabonese forward. One thing is for sure, if LAFC are going to continue to build on their current unbeaten run after three matches, they will need nights like this from their star man up front.

Thoughts on the draw at home? Leave a comment below!

Related Stories

Add A Comment
Leave A Reply

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Angels on Parade