LAFC cruises past Espana, into CCC next round

Photo courtesy of LAFC

Not much happened at BMO Stadium on Tuesday night, but in LAFC’s case, not much needed to happen.

Already sitting with a comfortable five-goal lead heading into its second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League series against Real Espana, LAFC took a business-like approach to the match. LAFC absorbed pressure from an Espana side with virtually nothing to lose, certain players played, but still got enough rest, and LAFC even added an additional goal, and it all added up to a 1-0 win.

“What we wanted is to put ourselves in a position in Honduras to be able to keep pushing the guys against Inter Miami, but then we knew we had to do a little bit of rotation,” LAFC head coach Marc Dos Santos said about managing the roster this week. “I thought everybody worked hard, but there’s synergies and some micro dynamics that don’t work as well because it’s a lot of changes.”

Nkosi Tafari scored LAFC’s lone goal of the match in the second half. LAFC used the massive lead it had to its advantage, as Denis Bouanga and Son Heung Min played just the first half and David Martinez, who has scored two goals in LAFC’s first two games, came off the bench in the 69th minute. The win puts LAFC in the Round of 16, where they will next face Costa Rica’s Alajualense.

“It was good to give opportunities to some players, to finish the job (and) to rest a lot of players,” Dos Santos said

Tafari found the back net in the 64th minute. Tyler Boyd sent a free kick into the penalty area, Timothy Tillman brought the ball down and fired a shot near post, Keeper Luis Lopez stopped the shot, but let the ball back into play, and Tafari swooped in and buried the rebound chance into the back net to raise LAFC’s aggregate to six goals.

Despite facing some very long odds, Espana still competed as hard as it could. Espana still played a high line, created some chances, and thought they would steal at least one more goal late in the second half, as Kenny Neilsen fouled Nixon Cruz inside the penalty area and referee Oshane Nation signaled Espana to the penalty spot. Jhon Benavidez stepped up to the spot, but keeper Thomas Hasal came up with the save.

We’ve been in two different leagues, (and) the difference is terrible,” Real Espana head coach Jeaustin Campos said. “We try to fight with the intensity dynamic, but they (LAFC) have great players, especially a great team.”

LAFC resumes MLS play on Saturday, as they head to South Texas to face the Houston Dynamo.