LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Football Club has ground to make up over the second half of the MLS season if it wants to win the Western Conference for the third time in four years under head coach Steve Cherundolo.
LAFC (8-5-5, 29 points) didn’t let a good chance go to waste on Wednesday night, handling the Colorado Rapids, who were forced to play with 10 men for most of the match, 3-0, in front of an announced crowd of 22,230 at BMO Stadium.
Denis Bouanga, Nathan Ordaz and Javairô Dilrosun powered LAFC to its first win since June 8.
Goalkeeper Hugo Lloris returned to the starting lineup after missing one league contest following the conclusion of the FIFA Club World Cup, making a pair of saves to preserve his sixth shutout of the season.
When LAFC last crossed paths with Colorado in the second leg of their CONCACAF Champions League series at the end of February, the Rapids accused defender Sergi Palencia of using discriminatory language during an exchange with center back Chidozie Awaziem.
Within a week the confederation cleared Palencia of wrongdoing and the two teams went about their business. But months after the fact, the Spanish defender and the Rapids quickly mixed it up again.
Six minutes after kickoff, Palenica jumped for a header in front of the Colorado bench. When 20-year-old Rapids defender Jackson Travis barreled into Palencia with his left arm extended, the Mississippi native received a straight red card from referee Jair Marrufo for contact to the LAFC player’s face.
Down a man, Rapids head coach Chris Armas removed forward Darren Yapi for fullback Keegan Rosenberry and the visitors sank into a low block to limit LAFC’s chances, ceding possession or any semblance of an offensive attack in the process.
Colorado (7-10-5, 26 points) didn’t take a shot on goal until the 68th minute and by then LAFC was comfortably ahead, a welcome change from recent results when the team fell behind in seven of its past eight games.
Scoring once over its previous 360 minutes of game action, including three group stage games in the Club World Cup and a 1-0 defeat in LAFC’s previous appearance at home on June 29 against Vancouver, breaking the Rapids down wasn’t so simple.
Bouanga, the man most responsible for LAFC getting on the board the past three years, cracked open the game by doing what he does best in the 40th minute.
Shrugging off a defender at midfield, Bouanga sprinted toward the Rapids net, reached the box, split two more Colorado players, and went down after being fouled by Andreas Maxso.
Bouanga’s ninth goal of the season marked his 50th regular-season finish in 87 MLS appearances. A hammered shot into the upper portion of the net made the Frenchman the 15th MLS player to score that many goals in fewer than 90 league games, joining Carlos Vela (50 goals in 61 games) as LAFC players to accomplish the feat.
LAFC sealed the three-point night early in the second half when Nathan Ordaz tapped in his fourth goal of the year with a rebound off a Dilrosun shot.
Before the 1-hour mark, Dilrosun, on loan from Club América until July 24, scored his first goal for LAFC on a left-footed finish to the far post when Timothy Tillman found the Dutch winger inside the box.
More to come on this story.
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