LAFC extends its unbeaten streak to six games in shutout win over Seattle
The weather is starting to heat up and so is LAFC, which ran its unbeaten streak to a season-best six games Wednesday with a 4-0 win over the Seattle Sounders at BMO Stadium.
The four goals, which marked a season high for LAFC, came from Cengiz Under, Jeremy Ebobisse, Denis Bouanga and Yaw Yeboah while goalkeeper Hugo Lloris made three saves to earn his second clean sheet in three games. It was his league-leading sixth shutout of the season.
LAFC went in front to stay in the 26th minute on Under's second MLS goal, a left-footed strike from well outside the box that appeared to hit a Seattle defender before one-hopping past keeper Andrew Thomas, who was making his second start of the season.
The Sounders came within inches of matching that three minutes later, but Pedro de la Vega's shot found the crossbar instead of the back of the net. That allowed Ebobisse to double the lead on a counter five minutes into the second half.
The sequence started with Seattle losing possession at the top of the LAFC penalty area, with the loose ball falling to Under. He pushed it onto the right foot of Igor Jesus, whose long, low through ball found Ebobisse sprinting up the center of the field, splitting two defenders as he entered the Seattle end.
After running onto the ball, Ebobisse turned Sounder defender Jon Bell around at the top of the box to create space, then beat Thomas cleanly with a right-footed shot inside the left post for his third goal of the season.
David Martínez appeared to add to the lead in the 78th minute, scoring on a brilliant individual effort. But the goal was erased by an offside call on Nathan Ordaz.
That mattered little since Bouanga's goal two minutes later did count. Martínez got the assist on the score, Bouanga's six in as many games during LAFC's unbeaten streak.
Yeboah then closed out the scoring with his first LAFC goal in the 86th minute.
LAFC (6-4-3) has never lost a regular-season game at home to the Sounders (5-4-4), with Wednesday's win running their record to 8-0-1. The victory also avenged a 5-2 loss, the most one-sided of the season two months ago in Seattle.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Why MLS players are protesting the FIFA Club World Cup
Why MLS players are protesting the FIFA Club World Cup On Saturday, MLS side Inter Miami will kick off the FIFA Club World Cup against Egypt's Al Ahly FC. Yet, many Inter Miami players will be doing so in protest. And yes, it's about money — but for good reason. When FIFA announced its plans for the expanded stateside Club World Cup, it looked to incentivize clubs, players and confederations with an enormous financial windfall. The prize money for the Club World Cup stands at an eye-opening $1 billion compared to the $16 million prize pool from 2023's version of the tournament. The Club World Cup is going to feature three MLS teams (Inter Miami, Seattle Sounders and LAFC). And with clubs earning upwards of $2 million per group stage win and $40 million for the champion, the Club World Cup in theory should be a huge deal to MLS players. It's not that simple. Why MLS players are upset While the participating MLS clubs are earning an additional $9.55 million, the current CBA prevents much of that from going to the players themselves. The current CBA entitles players to 50% of the bonus pay from outside competitions, but it caps the total payout at $1 million. So, if an MLS team hypothetically ran the table in the tournament and won the whole thing, players would only be entitled to $1 million out of the max $87.625 million performance bonus. Mind you, that's $1 million split collectively among the whole squad. The rest would go to the team ownership. What are players doing about it? We've already seen some displays of protest from the players. The Seattle Sounders donned "Club World Cup Cash Grab" shirts during warmups on June 1. If FIFA and MLS were going to interrupt the season for a manufactured (but lucrative) tournament, the players wanted to be compensated fairly for it. After all, MLS is set to pocket an additional $28.65 million from FIFA for the tournament. According to ESPN, this has brought MLS back to the negotiating table after months of silence. But thus far, the results have been unsatisfactory for the players. Via ESPN: A source with knowledge of the discussions told ESPN that a revised proposal from MLS committed to grant players on the three participating teams 20% of the performance-related payments for wins, draws and round advancement. Players collectively would receive $1 million for participation, in addition to any money earned for victories, draws or round qualification throughout the tournament. Separately, LAFC earned $250,000 collectively for the victory against Club America in a playoff on May 31 to secure a spot in the tournament. The MLSPA rejected that offer and called it "retaliatory" given how long MLS had waited to engage with the union. According to Sports Illustrated, MLSPA wanted 40% of performance-based earnings, but the league has yet to respond to that counteroffer. We'll have to see whether the player protests carry into the tournament if the bonus situation goes unresolved. As of now, time is running out.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
MLS teams enter Club World Cup with a chance to make an impression, good or bad
The beach clubs of Dubai and Ibiza may be a little quieter this summer, at least when it comes to their headcount of European soccer stars. The off-season has been intruded upon by the Club World Cup with the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Inter in the United States for this summer's expanded tournament, which kicks off this weekend. Wayne Lineker and Salt Bae may get lonely. European enthusiasm for Gianni Infantino's latest harebrained scheme is low. The $131m bounty for winning the tournament has incentivised clubs at boardroom level (see Real Madrid spending many millions extra to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold in time to play), but players may not be as driven on the pitch. European fans may not even watch – the tournament is being broadcast in the UK on Channel 5, a network known more for daytime reality TV repeats than live soccer. It's being streamed worldwide on DAZN, a platform with wildly varying adoption levels across the globe. Advertisement Related: Fifa ready to discuss staging 48-team Club World Cup after lobbying from Europe And yet the Club World Cup has an entirely different framing for the Major League Soccer clubs involved. After years of derision and ridicule from Euro-snobs, MLS can finally achieve legitimacy by holding its own against some of the best teams in the world. This is an opportunity to prove a point. Never before has MLS been pitted directly against so many European opponents in a competitive setting. The Seattle Sounders played in the pre-expansion Club World Cup in 2022, but lost their one and only match to Egypt's Al Ahly, never facing a Uefa opponent. This time, Seattle have games against Atlético Madrid and PSG while Inter Miami will face Porto, and Los Angeles FC are up against Chelsea. Of course, the Club World Cup has long had a 'Europe v the world' dynamic. The old tournament, going back to the days of the Intercontinental Cup, always mattered more to teams from the AFC (Asia), Caf (Africa), Concacaf (North and Central America) and Conmebol (South America), who saw Europe as the yardstick to measure themselves against. South American teams in particular put a lot of stock in these matches. Advertisement Now that the 32-team Club World Cup includes 12 participants from Uefa, this dynamic may be somewhat diluted. The latter rounds will almost certainly be dominated by European sides. There will be five all-Uefa clashes in the group stage alone. Nonetheless, MLS will have the sort of platform it has craved for a long time. The world (at least some of it) will be watching. The problem for MLS is that the league's best teams aren't necessarily the ones participating in this summer's tournament. Concacaf Champions Cup finalists and Supporters' Shield pace setters Vancouver Whitecaps will be watching from home, as will the Eastern Conference leaders, the Philadelphia Union. There's no place for Wilfried Nancy's Columbus Crew, one of the best and most entertaining teams in the league over the last several years. Instead, MLS will be represented by an Inter Miami team who have conceded 17 times in the seven games they played in May, a Seattle Sounders outfit sitting sixth in the West and a LAFC side that only punched their ticket to the tournament through a contrived play-in match against Club América due to Club Léon's banishment by Fifa. North American soccer may not be putting its best foot forward. Related: Beyond the apathy: the Manchester City and Chelsea fans off to the Club World Cup Advertisement Off the pitch, there are issues too. The Seattle Sounders wore shirts reading 'Club World Ca$h Grab' before the team's recent game against Minnesota United in protest over the way bonuses from participating in the Club World Cup are being distributed. 'Fifa's new tournament piles on to players' ever-increasing workload without regard to their physical wellbeing,' read a statement by the MLS Players' Association. 'Despite this windfall, the league has refused to allocate a fair percentage of those funds to the players themselves.' That prize money could also warp a league designed to maintain at least some sense of parity. Indeed, the $9.55m Inter Miami, LAFC and Seattle will receive for merely participating in the Club World Cup is more than Apple hands out in TV money to every MLS team each season. MLS's three Club World Cup representatives will have a disproportionate financial advantage over the rest of the league – or they would, if league spending rules allowed freer investment of that money into the first team. In so many ways, the expanded Club World Cup is a grotesque manifestation of what modern soccer has become, where money is both the only reason to be interested and the thing that numbs all. However, when the Seattle Sounders take to the field against newly crowned European champions PSG on 23 June, or when LAFC line up against Chelsea in Atlanta, the incentive for the MLS teams will be clear – they'll want to show they can take on Europe's finest. Realistically, though, the best measure for Inter Miami, LAFC and Seattle at the Club World Cup could come against non-Uefa opponents. Nobody really sees MLS as equal to the Premier League or any other 'Big Five' league. Matches against teams from Brazil, Egypt and Tunisia, on the other hand, are more winnable. This could be where MLS makes a statement. This may be where legitimacy is earned.

USA Today
8 hours ago
- USA Today
¿Se verá afectado el Mundial de Clubes de la FIFA y la Copa de Oro por las protestas en Los Ángeles y las redadas de ICE?
FIFA Club World Cup has potential to draw in many new soccer fans Former USMNT player and MLS champion Cobi Jones has high expectations for the FIFA Club World Cup which will be played in the United States. Sports Seriously