The good news for LAFC following its match with the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday night; it finally put and end to its three-match losing streak.
The bad news for LAFC was that it was only able to gain a point, and once again had to play catchup in order for that to happen. Denis Bouanga’s penalty kick canceled out Cristian Espinoza’s goal, and despite playing most of the second half a man down, still had to settle for the 1-1 draw at BMO Stadium.
“I thought they managed the game very well after we conceded, we just came up a bit short,” LAFC head coach Denis Bouanga said. “Pretty good looks at goal, especially in the second half. The guys did enough to win, just didn’t finish their chances.”
San Jose got the breakthrough in the 28th minute. Jack Skahan pounced on an errant pass to gain possession for San Jose, then sprung Espinoza down the right side with a perfectly weighted ball. Espinoza took the ball into the penalty area, switched the ball from his right foo to his left foot, took one last touch before firing a ball that beat keeper John McCarthy far post to give the Quakes the lead.
LAFC however caught a break starting in the 35th minute. Bouanga had fought off a challenge from Rodrigues and dribbled into the penalty area from the right side, Rodrigues tried to recover but in the process caught Bouanga in his right heel and referee Lukasz Szpala awarded LAFC the penalty. Bouanga stepped to the spot, weathered any attempts by keeper Daniel to distract him, and sent the penalty straight into the upper back net to tie the match.
“It was a game of intimidation,” Bouanga said. “Goalkeeper looked at me and tried to distract me and told him I got the job done.”
Things were looking even better for LAFC in the 56th minute. Mateusz Bogush chased down a long ball, keeper Daniel came off his line, Bogush tried to chip a ball over Daniel, who used his right hand to redirect the ball, but Daniel was outside the penalty area when he used his hand, and with Bogush clearly behind the San Jose defense, Daniel was issued a straight red card for denying a goal scoring opportunity, which gave LAFC the mad advantage. JT Marchinkowski replaced Daniel in goal, coming in for Paul Marie.
Despite the man advantage, LAFC could not capitalize on the opportunity. LAFC did have several chance to push through a winning goal, with its best chance coming in the 82dn minute, as Fall played a ball through the San Jose defense and Carlos Vela timed his run just right to get behind the Quakes back line, Vela touched into the penalty area and sent the shot right at Marchinkowski, but he was able to make the save. Another great chance for LAFC came in the 89th minute, as Ryan Hollingshead sent a long ball into the penalty area, Fall sent a header towards the back post, but it just missed and Bouanga was unable to get to the back post in time to sneak in a chance.
“We had a good opportunity to get, finally, these three points,” Bogush said. “Even better because they were one player less. So, it is a little bit frustration, but the season is so long. We still have a lot of games, so we will be back. I’m sure.”
LAFC has two more matches to go before it finally embarks on a long lengthy break, the first of which will be home against St. Louis City SC on Wednesday night.
