Los Angeles FC earned a home win Sunday evening against Real Salt Lake. The match ended 4-1 in favor of the Black and Gold — the same scoreline as when LAFC faced Real Salt Lake earlier last week.
Despite the final score, it was Real Salt Lake that opened the scoring in the opening fifteen minutes of the match. Following a corner, defender Brayan Vera found some space beyond the 18-yard box and fired a strike into the top left corner of the goal.
Winger Denis Bouanga leveled the match in the first minute of stoppage time after linking up with forward Son Heung-Min for their first goal.
This goal for Bouanga was his 20th of the MLS season, making him the first player in MLS history to score at least 20 goals in three consecutive seasons.
Shortly after the first goal for the Black and Gold, the South Korean international took a strike just outside the 18-yard box that found the bottom left corner of the goal, giving LAFC the lead going into halftime.
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Bouanga found his second goal of the match in the 73rd minute. The Gabon international timed his run perfectly to beat the entire Real Salt Lake defense, chipping his shot over the goalkeeper and securing the win for the home side.
Bouanga finished his hat-trick in the 87th minute after finding space in the penalty box, following a poor display of defending from the Real Salt Lake defenders for a final scoreline of 4-1. With Sunday’s hat-trick, Bouanga now has seven goals in the past three matches.
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LAFC (50 points) remains in fourth place in the Western Conference standings, but has two matches in hand of the third-place Minnesota United (54 points). The Black and Gold will hope to continue their three-match win streak as they travel away to face St. Louis City on Saturday.