LAFC defeats Austin FC on road

Los Angeles Football Club traveled to Austin on Sunday evening in Game 2 of its best-of-three series against Austin FC. The Black and Gold secured a dominant 4-1 win, officially moving on to the Conference Semifinals.

LAFC opened the scoring in the 21st minute thanks to forward Son Heung-Min. Son charged at Austin’s defense along the left side of the pitch after receiving the ball from a counter-attack created by winger Denis Bouanga. Son completed a stepover in the penalty box before firing a left-footed shot into the bottom right corner of the goal.

Three minutes later, Denis Bouanga doubled LAFC’s lead. LAFC fullback Sergi Palencia played a throughball to Son along the right side of the pitch. Austin’s goalkeeper, Brad Stuver, had overcommitted and came out of the 18-yard box, only to be juked out by Son. After having his initial shot blocked, Son found Bouanga on the other side of the pitch, who managed to put the ball in the back of the net.

A controversial handball by Bouanga in the 37th minute led to an Austin penalty, except striker Myrto Uzuni’s shot was saved by LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.

LAFC went up 3-0 in the 44th minute, after a second goal was scored by Bouanga. A headed ball found Bouanga, who dribbled into the Austin penalty box, cut inside past one defender, and fired a strike into the back of the net.

Another controversial handball occurred in stoppage time, which led to Austin having a chance to get a goal back before the end of the first half. Midfielder Daniel Pereira stepped up to the spot and converted the kick, making the scoreline 3-1 by the end of the opening 45 minutes.

VAR ruled out a second goal for Austin in the 72nd minute after the goalscorer was deemed to be offside.

The Black and Gold had sealed the game with a fourth goal in extra time. A mistake made by Austin’s backline led to a counter-attack by LAFC. Midfielder Marco Delgado chased down a loose ball before moving into Austin’s penalty area. He found striker Jeremy Ebobisse on the other side of the box, who had cut inside before sealing the game with a shot that rolled into the bottom right corner of the goal.

With this win, LAFC is the only MLS team to reach the conference semifinals in each of the past four years.

LAFC will now take on the Vancouver Whitecaps in the Conference Semifinals. The Black and Gold played Vancouver twice in the regular season, suffering a loss and a draw between the two matches. A bright spark for the side is that they were without their star forward, Son, for both games, as he did not sign for the club until the end of the summer. Given that Vancouver finished as the higher seed, they will host the single-elimination match.