While we are still a handful of days away from the start of the 2026 MLS Regular Season kicking off, LAFC are set to begin their 2026 campaign tomorrow in the first leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup. After what felt like twenty different seasons wrapped up in one long, disappointing, 2025 campaign, the team are prepped and ready to hit the pitch for real as they look to regain their spot atop the MLS peak while snagging a few more trophies along the way.
Sounds of Training 🔊
A look into training as the team prepares for @TheChampions 🎥
Full episode: https://t.co/pPtoyOZVWI pic.twitter.com/nT067rFAJK
— LAFC (@LAFC) February 14, 2026
New Head Coach, Same Expectations
The biggest news coming into the new season is the arrival of new Head Coach Marc Dos Santos, who was promoted to the position after serving as an assistant coach with the club the last couple of seasons. While many fans thought, and perhaps would have liked, the club to have gone with a ‘big name’ they chose familiarity for the man who will be just the third head coach in club history. Familiarity is good, all things considered as Dos Santos knows the roster from a tactical sense, knows the players on a personal level, and perhaps most importantly, knows the expectations and pressures that will come with managing LAFC. Dos Santos also has experience leading a team in the MLS, having previously been the head coach for Vancouver Whitecaps (2018-2021), and while that tenure wasn’t super inspiring, there is hope that with a better organizational supporting cast around him in Los Angeles, we will see the brilliant soccer mind so many have mentioned when talking about him, flourish.
Road Rules
Walk with me a moment here. Some of you reading this are old enough to remember the golden age of reality television on MTV in the late 90’s, so this analogy will make perfect sense. This season, LAFC need to learn to get on that Road Rules mentality. BMO is essentially a fortress, it’s their happy place, it is the Real World for the club. A mansion, group of not-so-strangers all playing together and living it up, usually minus the raging parties and sloppy drunks if you don’t count some of the fans on certain match days. That said, LAFC’s form on the road last season wasn’t just inconsistent, it was consistently bad. They finished with a W-L-D record of 6-4-7 away from home, where they went 11-4-2. If this team is going to get further into the postseason they will need to learn to get just as comfortable riding around in that RV, as they are living it up in their LA mansion.
Stephen Eustáquio is Black & Gold.
📝 #LAFC acquires midfielder Stephen Eustáquio on loan from Portuguese club FC Porto through June 2026 with option to purchase.
➡️ https://t.co/EFYeOBdCFS pic.twitter.com/2ZrnjwBAtj
— LAFC (@LAFC) February 6, 2026
New Arrivals
It isn’t too much of a surprise considering how this team was able to finish the season strong and end up in a good spot as they went into the postseason, but there hasn’t been a massive overhaul of the roster during the offseason. Very much a “filling the squad out” feel as the team did add a handful of talent that includes snagging former Nashville SC forward Tyler Boyd off of waivers, bringing in U22 initiative midfielder Amin Boudri and adding to the attack by acquiring Jacob Shaffelburg from Nashville SC in exchange for GAM. Perhaps the most notable offseason move came when the team strengthened the middle of the pitch with the loan of Stephan Eustáquio from FC Porto. Eustáquio and Shaffelburg will both likely get the chance to make an immediate impact, as both have been pegged to receive a fair amount of playing time under Dos Santos. With Denis Bouanga and Son the obvious focal points for the attack, this team still needs that third threat to really help push them over the top and secure some much needed goals late in the season.
What To Expect In 2026
Marc Dos Santos has his work cut out for him. On paper, this is arguably one of the best two teams in the MLS, with Inter Miami boasting a roster that is equally stacked. This is also a club hungry to regain its glory of 2022. Not to mention, despite the constant outside noise and the perception that he couldn’t get the team over the hump, former head coach Steve Cherundolo often had this team in the finals of every competition they were part of, won the club’s first-ever MLS Cup in his first season with the team in the same season they won the Shield, and secured the team’s first-ever U.S. Open Cup trophy before he left. Dos Santos comes in with a roster that is like a premade dinner, all he has to do is heat it up, maybe add a little seasoning, and just try not to burn the kitchen down.
That said, MLS is hard, and you never know what happens throughout a season. Case and point, after what was a series of slow starts and difficult performances the first half of the season, LAFC stormed back and finished not just third in the Western Conference, but were only three points off the top spot. Realistically, this team is one that should be aiming for first place in the Western Conference and should be enjoying home field advantage throughout the postseason. This is also a team that shouldn’t settle for anything less than reaching the Western Conference Finals, if not the MLS Cup Finals. The most difficult part of the season will be, as is always the case with this club, navigating the thick schedule of fixtures as they compete across several competitions. Still, this is a roster built not just for success, but in a lot of ways, built for dominance. We wont say LAFC should win everything and if they don’t it is a lost season, because again, professional sports are hard. What we will say is that this is a team that should be reaching the finals in most, if not all of their competitions this season. A team that should be lifting, at worst, one trophy by the end of the campaign, and a side that needs to at least find itself back in the MLS Cup Final come winter.
Thoughts on the 2026 season ahead? What are your expectations for LAFC? Leave a comment below!