Photo courtesy of LAFC
The theme of the night for LAFC; rebound.
Taking the field just two days after being eliminated from the CONCACAF Champions Cup in heartbreaking fashion against Inter Miami, LAFC looked to bounce back in a relatively short amount of time, as they welcomed the San Jose Earthquakes to BMO Stadium, and they did just that, as Sergi Palencia and Denis Bouanga both scored of rebounds, and LAFC got back on track with a 2-1 win over the Quakes.
“It was a difficult week for us, so winning today was really important,” LAFC Head coach Steve Cherundolo said.
LAFC finally broke through in the 65th minute. Bouanga received a pass from Igor Jesus, made a cutting move inside and took a rare right-footed shot from the left side just outside the penalty area, keeper Daniel parried the ball away, but left a rebound inside the box, Palencia gathered himself and one-timed a right-footed blast past Daniel at the far post to give LAFC the lead.
“Today was so open, wide open, and one of the things is always important is to have faith, be convinced you are going to score, visualize you are going to score, and today I hit it with soul, with everything important that we have,” Palencia said
LAFC slowly melted away the match from that point on, then gave themselves a two-goal cushion in the 85th minute. Daniel threw a ball back into play, but Timothy Tillman outhustled former LAFC midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye to get to the ball, Tillman passed to Olivier Giroud, who saw Daniel off his line and tried to capitalize, firing a left-footed shot that was parried by Daniel, but just like the last time, he left a rebound inside the penalty area and Bouanga snuck in a right-footed shot that got past a scrambling Daniel into the back net to make it a two-goal game. San Jose did put a bit of scare into the LAFC faithful deep into stoppage time, as Cristian Espinoza beat Hugo Lloris with a shot to the near post in the 95th minute to pull a goal back for the Quakes, but LAFC still managed to seal the win.
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