LAFC forward Denis Bouanga kicks the ball in front of Seattle Sounders defender Nathan during LAFC’s 2-1 win Saturday at BMO Stadium. (Eric Thayer / Associated Press)
When LAFC entered the league in 2018, its first game was against the Sounders in Seattle. It won that game and MLS has been trying to turn the series into a rivalry ever since.
But for a rivalry to take hold, the results should be evenly matched. That hasn’t been the case with these teams for some time.
LAFC’s latest win came Saturday, with goals from Timothy Tillman and Mateusz Bogusz, lifting it to 2-1 season-opening victory in front of a sun-splashed sellout crowd at BMO Stadium. And this one came with a bit of history because the win not only ran LAFC’s unbeaten streak against the Sounders to seven games, it was also the team’s seventh straight win on opening day dating to the 2018 game in Seattle.
No MLS team has done better.
Read more: Carlos Vela’s absence hangs over LAFC as it embarks on new season
Including the playoffs, LAFC has beaten the Sounders 10 times; Real Salt Lake is the only team it has defeated more often. LAFC hasn’t lost to the Sounders in nearly three years — and hasn’t seen a Seattle player score a goal from the run of play in five games.
None of that changed Saturday. But this game was about more than just numbers.
After two straight trips to the MLS Cup final, LAFC is a team in transition. For the first time, it started a season without captain Carlos Vela — Bogusz took his place in the center of the front line while midfielder Ilie Sánchez wore the armband — and it also welcomed a new left back in Mexican Omar Campos, a new keeper in Frenchman Hugo Lloris and welcomed back Colombian midfielder Eduard Atuesta, a member of the 2018 expansion roster, after a two-year absence.
All had impressive season debuts.
The Sounders, meanwhile, started the season missing six players to injury, among them midfielders Albert Rusnak and João Paulo, defender Yeimar and goalkeeper Stefan Frei, who led the league with 16 clean sheets last season.
Frei’s spot was taken by Andrew Thomas, 25, who, like Lloris, was making his first MLS appearance. But while Thomas’ professional experience consisted of 15 games in the second-tier USL Championship, Lloris, 37, has started a record 20 World Cup games and leads the French national team with 145 appearances.
Lloris made five saves in first 25 minutes, the first coming in the third minute when he used both fists to bat down a shot from Jordan Morris. Thomas passed his first test seconds later when he stopped Cristian Olivera at the end of a breakaway started by a long pass from Lloris.
Read more: Hugo Lloris seemingly had nothing left to prove. So why did he sign with LAFC?
But LAFC broke through in the final minute of the first half when Campos picked out Tillman with a long cross from the end line and the midfielder did the rest, lifting a right-footed volley by Thomas for the 1-0 lead. Bogusz doubled the margin 10 minutes into the second half, stepping away from Seattle defender Josh Atencio at the top of the box and drilling a right-footed shot under the crossbar.
The Sounders cut the lead in half on Pedro de la Vega’s penalty kick in the 73rd minute after LAFC’s Aaron Long cut down Morris in the box. Replacement referee Wesley Costa, who struggled to control the match, originally waved off the foul, but after taking a lengthy look at a video replay, awarded the penalty and de la Vega converted from the spot.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
