Things started out well for LAFC on Wednesday night.
Playing at home for the first time in 16 days, LAFC relied on a familiar source to get them going against Sporting Kansas City, as Denis Bouanga continued his torrid scoring run with his 10th league goal early in the first half, and it looked like it was going to be another easy night for LAFC against a Kansas City side that is one spot out of last place in the Western Conference.
However, Kansas City ended up making it an unhappy homecoming for the home side. First Johnny Russell equalized for Sporting moments after Bouanga’s strike, then relied on its defense to hold down LAFC the rest of the night. Kansas City was also aided by Video Review, which nullified a late second-half goal, and LAFC was forced to settle for the 1-1 draw at BMO Stadium.
“We just dropped and didn’t apply enough pressure on the ball,” LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo said.
LAFC struck 13 minutes in. Shane Palencia sprung Kwadao Opoku down the right side of the field, took the ball into the penalty area, made a juke move to evade Kansas City’s Andrew Fontas, then played a ball to the penalty spot area and Bouanga swooped in and buried the shot past keeper Kendall McIntosh at the near post and LAFC was in control of the match.
Sporting however had an answer in the 20th minute. Russell took a ball from Remi Walter and dribbled into the penalty area, but rather than try to dribble through the LAFC defense, Russell chose to go around the LAFC defense and the strategy worked, as he took the ball towards the endline, then fired a shot outside the six-yard box that got past keeper Eldin Jakupovic into the far post net for the equalizer.
The two sides battled to a stalemate the rest of the match, though LAFC thought they had retaken the lead in the 85th minute, only for Video Review to take that away. It started when Nathan Ordaz had the ball inside the penalty area, passed to Mateusz Bogusz, who then back-heeled a ball to Hollingshead and he took a quick touch before firing a left-footed shot off the crossbar, then the far post before crossing the goal line for what looked like the go-ahead goal. However, referee Armando Villarreal got the call to take a second look at the buildup, and it was discovered that Bogusz was in an offside position when he received Ordaz’s pass, thus Hollingshead’s goal was disallowed.
“We had a lot of opportunities, but we missed a lot and unfortunately, we tied,” Bouanga said.
There is no rest for the weary for LAFC, as they are back at BMO Stadium on Saturday to welcome the San Jose Earthquakes.
