Match Preview - LAFC
Game Info
Kickoff: 7:39pm CT
Watch: Apple TV
Location: Q2 Stadium - Austin, TX
All-Time H2H Record
Austin FC has a 3W-2D-7L record against LAFC.
LAFC will always have a place in the Austin FC record books, as they were the club’s first ever MLS opponent back in April 2021. Clearly, ATX has a way to go before they can even draw level with the Black and Gold in this head-to-head series, much less earn some bragging rights.
The first time these teams met this season was back in March, an early afternoon game out in Los Angeles that led to a 1-0 Austin FC victory. It was just the third win for ATX in 12 tries and their first against LAFC since August 2022. In fact, Austin FC hasn’t lost to LAFC in league play since October 2023, drawing both legs of the series during the 2024 season.
LAFC Recent Form
It’s challenging to encapsulate LAFC’s recent form. While they sit in seventh place in the Western Conference (disappointing by their standards), LAFC has already been involved in CONCACAF Champions Cup, Club World Cup, and will be participating in Leagues Cup as well come late July in addition to league play. Overall, LAFC is on a different trajectory than the average MLS club, as they are trying to establish themselves on the global stage and to this point of the season they’ve mostly prioritized their results in CCC and CWC.
In CCC, LAFC was eliminated in the quarterfinals by a 3-2 aggregate scoreline against Inter Miami. In the CWC, LAFC was eliminated while earning just a single point in the group stage, with only one goal scored across their three matches against Chelsea, Esperance, and Flamengo. Now LAFC shifts their focus to the second half of the MLS season and Leagues Cup later this month.
Thanks to that busy spring schedule, LAFC is lagging behind the field with just 17 games played and playing below recent expectations with a modest 7W-5D-5L record for a total of 26 points. They’ve recorded 30 goals for and conceded 24 to their opponents. Their last four MLS matchups have not been smooth by “Black and Gold” standards. They were only able to manage draws against the two teams at the bottom of the Supporter’s Shield standings in LA Galaxy and CF Montreal, then recorded a solid victory over lowly Sporting KC prior to the CWC, before returning to league play with a 1-0 home loss to a depleted Vancouver Whitecaps on Sunday.
Due to those additional competitions and subsequent lack of league games, LAFC has a monstrous five-week stretch beginning this weekend that includes six MLS contests as well as three Leagues Cup games – two of which are against Liga MX giants Pachuca and Tigres.
From a personnel standpoint, LAFC is loaded with talent despite the medicore results. They’ve still got Denis Bouanga pacing their attack, one of the most dangerous players in the league not named Lionel Messi. Bouanga, a stunningly lethal winger, has 12 goal contributions in his 16 appearances. Trailing Bouanaga in contributions are midfielder Mark Delgado with seven and homegrown foward Nathan Ordaz with five. Ordaz, with his homegrown tag, is on the supplemental roster for LAFC and should see increased time at the striker position with the departure of Olivier Giroud – more on that in a bit.
LAFC employs a 3/3 roster build. Giroud, the all-time leading goal scorer for France in international play, is no longer with the team after player and club mutually agreed to part ways last week. Giroud was occupying a DP slot and was an absolute whiff for LAFC in his short tenure. On top of that Cegniz Ünder, who was occupying a DP slot as well while he was on loan for from Fenerbahçe, is also gone after LAFC denied to exercise his purchase option. LAFC filled his slot prior to the CWC, acquiring winger Javairo Dilrosun on loan from Club America through July 24 with an option to buy. The club does have all three of their slots filled the U22 side of things, with 19-year-old Venezuelan forward David Martinez, Brazialian midfielder Igor Jesus, and Ukranian left back Artem Smolyakov under contract.
LAFC has also consistently brought in TAM level talent to fill out their roster, which helps them navigate hudles that appear from time to time due to their high DP turnover without dropping too far in the table. Some very familiar faces occupy the TAM slots for Steve Cherundolo’s club like “the dreaded” Jeremy Ebobisse, Mark Delgado, Timothy Tillman, and Aaron Long. All four of those players would be game in, game out starters for any MLS side, but LAFC is able to rotate them frequently without dropping their level.
This team is talented, but as far as comparing it to LAFC rosters of the past, it may be the least talented roster that Austin FC has seen from this club throughout the history of this matchup, at least when it comes to their attacking prowess. On top of that, Cherundolo is a lame-duck coach, causing some in the LA fanbase want to push him out before the end of the season. Dolo is leaving and returning to Germany, where he spent the entirety of his pro career with Hanover 96, at the end of the season.
The announcement of his departure came back on April 18th of this year. If you’re seeing a bit of a trend here, then you’re on to something. Similar to Austin, LAFC has been unable to find their groove and the lack of talent has absolutely impacted the way Dolo wants the team to play. They are lacking their typical identity at the moment (which is sit back and punish teams on the counter) and are absolutely vulnerable at this stage of the season.
Austin FC Recent Form
The Seattle match left a familiar sentiment of doom lingering over the Austin fan base. It was a truly uninspired, non-threatening, unfocused, and embarrassing effort against a Sounders side that was coming off of the Club World Cup group stage, dealing with multiple injuries and absences from important defensive players due to suspension. As ZG and I discussed on the Seattle game preview, the timing couldn’t have been better for Austin to go up to Lumen Field and grab a result.
Instead, Austin FC fell 2-0 and was dominated by the home side for the majority of the night. It’s hard to look at anyone on the pitch in that contest and say they played well for the Verde and Black. In fact, it would be a much simpler task to point to players who were absolutely awful. It hurts me to be so honest about my favorite player, but Guilherme Biro played the worst game of his young Austin FC career. Jáder Obiran, who got the start at right wing in place of Osman Bukari, was ineffective. Dani Pereira allowed Paul Rothrock to get in his head and put him off of his game. Both Brendan Hines-Ike and Oleksandr Svatok were shaky throughout the night.
After hopping off the livestream episode welcoming Nicky Beloko to town, ZG and I took a few minutes to chat about the current state of the club. Without overreacting too much, we came to the conclusion that while the alarm bells are not singing at the moment, our ears are fixated on their potential chorus.
With the month of July finally here, the two victories over Colorado and NYRB from early June feel like a distant memory. In the grand scheme of this season, those two contests are not ancient history, but the performance was so poor versus Seattle that those wins feel more like they could end up being an illusion of an uptick rather than a true indicator of where the 2025 version of Austin FC is heading.
Before we all start panicking and running up and down the streets, let me provide some context that came directly from Coach Estévez. DP attackers Osman Bukari and Myrto Uzuni were both granted extended leaves of absence during Austin’s bye week leading up to the Seattle game. Both players have families with young children overseas who they have not been able to see for some time due to the rigorous MLS schedule. For the record, I’m glad both those men had an opportunity to be with their families. However, I am not glad that it resulted in a DNP for Myrto and just 34 minutes (and only 16 touches) for Bukari.
With both out of the starting lineup, the ATX attack toothless and lost, and that’s saying something for a team with just 15 goals scored in 20 games that the offense was abnormally poor. I absolutely did not expect it to look that bad, but it did.
Ok, deep breath. The sky is not falling, and Austin has an opportunity to put that Seattle matchup behind them with a solid showing versus LAFC. To hear more about our lineup expectations, including how the team may shift starters and subtitution patterns with the US Open Cup quarterfinal looming on Tuesday, go listen to Episode 237!
Injury Report
This is an estimate until the league releases official injury reports on Friday afternoon.
ATX:
Myrto Uzuni (Questionable - Hamstring)
LAFC:
Hugo Lloris (Questionable - Arm)
Maxime Chanot (Questionable - Head)
LAFC Players to Watch
Denis Bouanga - You aren’t getting out of an LAFC preview without an extended discussion about their talisman winger. The most dangerous non-Messi player in the league in my opinion, Bouanga has all the traits you lust over in a dominant wing option in MLS. He has great vision, deft touch, and clinical finishing all in tow with top-tier speed and explosiveness. LAFC loves to play on the counter, and that is what Bouanga is best at. His MLS resume is the ceiling of what we hoped Osman Bukari could be in Austin. Unfortunately for us, that hasn’t materialized over Bukari’s first full year with the club. But back to Bouanga. The midfielders for LAFC constantly search for him after turning over their opponents and look to unleash him up the pitch against disorganized backlines as much as possible. Mikkel Desler will have his hands full all night long with the Gabonian and he did well with him in the 60 minutes they saw each other back in September of the 2024 season, holding Bouanga to three off-target shot attempts.
Jeremy Ebobisse - The Dreaded Ebobisse! With the departure of Giroud, this is Ebobisse’s position to lose now. He should get the start and see a lengthy shift. While Ebobisse is a solid player, he seems to raise his level of play when he faces off against Austin FC and has found ways to punish ATX at an alarming rate, to the tune of six goals and two assists in nine matches. He does a lot of “clean up” work in the box, has a dangerous vertical to challenge defenders on aerials and has a nose for being in the right place at the right time. He’ll require a set of eyes on him when LAFC shifts gears into attack mode.
Austin FC Keys to the Game
Bend, Don’t Break - LAFC is going to generate chances. They’re going to have counter attacking opportunities in this game, you can only limit them for so long. It’s going to be important for Austin to mitigate the damage that LAFC can cause when they flip the switch from defense to offense. Maintaining structure and eliminating careless errors will go a long way in this matchup to help maintain a balanced backline that will have their hands full with the quality of the LAFC counter attack. Absorb the pressure and stay disciplined when the Black and Gold start streaking down field and you’ll be able to stifle their offense and create frustration. We’ve seen it before between these two teams, but it’s much easier said than done.
Predictions
ZG - 1-1 Draw
E - 1-0 Austin FC
