Tag: Kwadwo Opoku

LAFC shove Philadelphia Union aside, grab spot in CONCACAF Champions League final

It was a battle, and LAFC was more ready for the fight

LAFC has once again established their bona fides as MLS’s top dog.

A rematch of last year’s incredible 2022 MLS Cup saw the same winner, with LAFC beating a 10-man Philadelphia Union 3-0 on Tuesday to seal a 4-1 aggregate win in the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals.

LAFC will go on to face either Tigres or Club León in the two-legged final, with dates and kickoff times yet to be announced. Tigres holds a 2-1 lead heading into Wednesday night’s second leg.

A physical battle throughout saw LAFC, normally seen as a possession-oriented team, opt to play on the break for long spells. That approach became much easier when they took an early lead thanks to Timothy Tillman. A 13th-minute LAFC corner saw Andre Blake do a madness to deny Ilie Sánchez, with the Jamaica No. 1 somehow clawing the ball off the line.

Sánchez was left with his head in his hands, but the Union never finished the job, and Tillman was able to smash the ball into the roof of the net from an acute angle.

The Union had their looks from set pieces, but either couldn’t find a finish or were turned back from fine work by John McCarthy, one of their chief tormentors at the 2022 MLS Cup final. At the other end, Blake denied Mateusz Bogusz’s curling effort with another top-drawer save towards the end of the half.

Mostly though, this seemed to be a game characterized by acrimony. Alejandro Bedoya was lucky not to see more than a yellow card for a second-minute tackle, and multiple heavy collisions were followed by jawing and the occasional shove.

With referee Drew Fischer having little option but to dole out yellow cards, someone was bound to get sent off. That fate ended up befalling Olivier Mbaizo, who clattered into Dénis Bouanga just before the hour mark and received his second yellow as a result.

The Union, who had the lion’s share of possession throughout the match, looked more measured playing 10-versus-11, but ultimately LAFC’s counter-punching posture put the contest to bed. The sequence had everything that makes them such a powerhouse: José Cifuentes battled through a tackle to find Carlos Vela, who instantly opened the field up with a glorious diagonal pass out to Kwadwo Opoku.

The young Ghanaian, who LAFC had the luxury of bringing off the bench, finished the chance with power and accuracy, leaving Blake no chance to pull off another miracle save.

Bouanga would go on to supply a 90th-minute strike as the Union were obliged to leave men forward, giving the Gabonese attacker plenty of space to add an exclamation point in front of a delighted crowd at BMO Stadium.

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LAFC showed Austin FC and the rest of MLS how high the bar is in 3-0 playoff demolition

LAFC delivered a message to the rest of MLS in a dominant win

LAFC made sure that the MLS Cup final will be at their house, and in emphatic fashion.

The Supporters’ Shield winners dismantled Austin FC, winning 3-0 on a day where they could have probably doubled their margin of victory. From the opening whistle to full time, it was a truly dominant performance, with goals from Chicho Arango, Kwadwo Opoku, and an own goal from the unfortunate Maxi Urruti.

It spoke to the attacking menace LAFC offers that even a team so defined by a front-foot, aesthetically pleasing style as Austin opted to defend out of a low-ish 4-4-2 block rather than their normally more open approach. Josh Wolff wasn’t asking his players to hoof long balls — a spell of possession between the 7th and 8th minutes saw them connect nearly 20 passes, including one from Ruben Gabrielsen within 40 yards of the LAFC goal — but the men in green were certainly defending for long spells.

While Austin were having some success at luring the home side into unsuccessful pressing attempts, LAFC were still creating all the danger. José Cifuentes crashed a shot off the post in the 17th minute, and as Austin started to move their line up after weathering the initial storm, Brad Stuver had numerous worries on balls in behind for all three LAFC forwards. The biggest of those threats by far saw Stuver misread a diagonal towards Denis Bouanga. The Gabonese winger beat Stuver to it, but his angled shot towards an empty net was blocked behind for a corner.

Unfortunately for Austin, that corner resulted in a goal. Chiellini drew some extra attention on Carlos Vela’s delivery, allowing Arango to slip past Moussa Djitté and head home for a 29th minute opener.

Austin’s choice to stand off of LAFC’s defenders was repeatedly ending with longer-range passes that picked out runs from Bouanga and Vela; if anything, the visitors were in pure survival mode. Stuver made difficult saves on Cifuentes and Vela in the final minutes.

Halftime arrived, and Stats Perform had credited the Verde with just one shot attempt:

The second half continued in the same pattern, with Stuver making saves and Crepeau a spectator. Appropriately, LAFC padded their lead in the same manner, as their set piece dominance all year long paid off again. Urruti had just been sent on as an attacking substitute by Wolff, but his first touch was an unmitigated disaster: unsighted on Vela’s in-swinging service, the ball found his forehead, and he couldn’t react in time to do anything but nod it past Stuver.

Austin were adrift. Even when it seemed that they might be thrown a lifeline when Sebastian Ibeagha stepped on Diego Fagundez’s foot in the LAFC box, referee Armando Villarreal deemed it a clean play, and stuck to his call despite a VAR check revealed clear contact.

For the second-year club, it was just that kind of day. A minute after Crepeau made his first (and only) save of the day, an utterly bizarre bounce gave Opoku a gift at the top of the box, and the young Ghanaian gleefully fired past Stuver in the 81st minute.

Bouanga lashed home a potential fourth with virtually the last kick, only for an offside call to keep the scoreline from more closely reflecting just how big the gulf between the teams was on the day.

LAFC’s win guarantees an MLS Cup final at Banc of California Stadium on Saturday, November 5, with kickoff set for 4:00pm Eastern.

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