(East Los Angeles, CA) [From The Editor’s Desk]: The long-awaited day finally arrived for the Black & Gold, L.A. Football Club (LAFC), to re-start their season’s bid to defend its MLS Cup title. And with it came much hope and expectation from the Club’s tremendously large and diverse fan-base, along with the City and County of Los Angeles supporters, as the Black & Gold took on the #2 seed, Seattle Sounders FC, in front of 35,000 fans, for the right to move onward to the MLS Cup Western Conference Finals.
With this anticipated and tightly contested match, the Club did not disappoint its vast fan-base, especially many of its Grupo 3252 traveling group that attended the match, to once again loudly and profoundly cheer its team on to their (1-0) resounding victory. Having accomplished that big playoff match objective with their exciting but nerve-wracking victory, the Team is now preparing hard this week in anticipation of its expected “sold-out” crowd for the Western Conference Final at BMO Stadium this coming Saturday at 6:30 pm against the Houston Dynamo. Just a final reminder that the match is expected to be a “sell-out” and tickets may be hard to find.
Very soon, our City of the Angels will become the Epicenter for this all-important and nation-wide Soccer/Fútbol activity, when they face each other for the right to host the MLS Cup Championship Final, on December 9th of this single elimination match playoff format. What better way to near the completion of yet another tremendously successful season for our Black & Gold, than to host it right here in front of the best soccer fans in the U.S.A.
Our “Man of the Match” selection went to Goalkeeper, Maxime Crépeau, who stepped up “Big Time” for being credited with those two incredible “Saves” early in the match, then being credited with a final total of (7) for the night. Now, it’s time to read the LAFC Communications Staff’s account of the decisive win over the Sounders in Sunday’s, 11/26 match-up at Lumen Field in Seattle.
LAFC ADVANCE TO WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL WITH 1-0 SEMIFINAL VICTORY OVER SEATTLE SOUNDERS
LAFC to Host Western Conference Final Saturday, Dec. 2 at 6:30 p.m. as Houston Dynamo visit BMO Stadium with Berth to MLS Cup Final On the Line.
The Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) advanced to the Audi 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs Western Conference Final after earning a 1-0 road victory over the Seattle Sounders in the Western Conference Semifinal.
[aigpl-gallery-slider id=”120099″][Photo Gallery Courtesy]: LAFC
To watch the match highlights, click here.
For a second consecutive game this postseason, the 2023 MLS Golden Boot winner, Dénis Bouanga, scored the game’s only goal, this time burying a right footed shot in the top right corner in the 30th minute for his 37th goal in all competitions this year. At the other end of the field, LAFC goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau set a post-season career-high with seven saves en route to his second consecutive clean sheet.
With the win, the Black & Gold advance to the Western Conference Final for the third time in the club’s six-year history. They will host the Houston Dynamo at BMO Stadium on Saturday, December 2, with the winner advancing to MLS Cup.
The Western Conference Final is scheduled to kick-off at 6:30 p.m. PT and will be broadcast live on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV and on radio on 710 AM ESPN Los Angeles and 980 La Mera Mera (Esp). Tickets for the match, including group and premium tickets and hospitality are now on sale to the general public. Visit LAFC.com/tickets for more information on how you may reserve seats for the Western Conference Final.
[NEWS & NOTES]
*With this win, LAFC is now unbeaten in six straight games in all competitions, and unbeaten in their last six MLS Cup Playoff games dating back to the start of the 2022 postseason.
*Prior to tonight’s win, the first and only time LAFC claimed a victory in Seattle was 1-0 during LAFC’s inaugural match on March 4, 2018.
*This match marked the Club’s second ever postseason victory on the road – both coming in 2023.
LAFC is now 15-0-3 when scoring first in MLS competitions this year, including 5-0-2 away from home.
*LAFC played its 51st official game of 2023 tonight. The club has now played 34 regular season games, eight Concacaf Champions League games, three Leagues Cup games, two U.S. Open Cup games, three MLS Cup Playoff games and one game in the Campeones Cup against Tigres. In those 51 games, LAFC now has 22 wins, 15 losses and 13 draws while scoring 91 goals and conceding 55.
*With his goal tonight, Dénis Bouanga now has 37 goals in 46 appearances across all competitions for LAFC in 2023. He is second on the Club’s all-time records for goals in a single year. Only Carlos Vela – with 38 goals in 2019 – has scored more than Bouanga’s 37.
*Forward Dénis Bouanga, LAFC’s all-time leading postseason goal scorer, registered his fourth goal of the postseason. Bouanga has now scored 10 goals in the past six appearances.
*Goalkeeper, Maxime Crepeau has started all six of LAFC’s postseason games over the last two years. He has played the entirety of five of those games, going 5-0-0 in those matches while keeping three clean sheets.
*Crépeau made his 10th career postseason appearance tonight and set a new career-high with 10 saves.
*Midfielder Timothy Tillman made his career-first MLS postseason goal contribution, assisting Bouanga’s game winning goal in the 30th minute. In the regular season, Tillman had one assist to go along with four goals in 25 appearances.
*Carlos Vela is the only LAFC player to have appeared in all ten of the LAFC’s MLS Cup Playoff games.
