Match Preview - LAFC
Game Info
Kickoff: 7:55pm CT
Watch: Apple TV
Location: Q2 Stadium - Austin, TX
All-Time H2H Record
Austin FC has a 4W-2D-9L record against LAFC across all competitions.
In case you forgot, Austin FC swept the regular season series against LAFC in 2025 with a pair of 1-0 victories, first an early season defensive masterclass on the road, then an international break aided victory at Q2 Stadium in the penultimate game of the regular season.
That second win set up a rematch in the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs, where LAFC won the best-of-three series in just two games. ATX forced the Black and Gold to sweat out a 2-1 win in the opening game before the favorites rampaged through the Austin defense in Game 2 to advance on a 4-1 result behind a brace and assist from Denis Bouanga and a goal and assist from Heung-Min Son.
Long time fans of the Verde and Black will remember the 4-1 home victory over LAFC back in August 2022 as one of the high points in club history, at least when it comes to regular season matches, as the two clubs occupied the top two seeds in the Western Conference from then through Decision Day.
LAFC Recent Form
The class of the Western Conference since the club’s inception back in the 2018 season, LAFC has been the model franchise for young clubs around MLS over their first eight years in the league. They found immediate success in 2019 with a Supporter’s Shield title (on the back of 85 goals for and just 37 conceded).
That success has been sustained to this point, with LAFC qualifying for the MLS Cup playoffs in seven of their first eight seasons. They added to the trophy cabinet in 2022, doing “the double” by winning another Supporter’s Shield and their first ever MLS Cup. The team also added a U.S. Open Cup title in 2024.
It was a relatively quiet off-season for the Black and Gold, as they did their big business last summer when they acquired former EPL golden boot winner Heung-Min Son from Tottenham. They said goodbye to loan players Andrew Moran (Brighton) and Frankie Amaya (Toluca) and fully transferred homegrown product Luca Bombino to San Diego FC after the left back spent 2025 on loan with the expansion side.
Maybe the biggest change for LAFC headed into 2026 is on the sideline. Longtime manager Steve Cherundolo left the club last season in a planned move that resulted in the team hiring from within, promoting assistant coach Marc Dos Santos to the head job. Dos Santos, who reportedly speaks four languages, was also the Vancouver Whitecaps head coach from 2018-2021.
Some of the key player personnel additions to the 2026 roster include Canadian midfielder Stephen Eustáquio, Swedish youth international Amin Boudri and MLS veteran forward Jacob Shaffelburg. Eustáquio, who has 54 caps for the Canadian national team, is on loan from FC Porto through the summer. He’s the most important off-season acquisition for this club and bolsters an already strong (but relatively thin) midfield.
Boudri arrives on a U22 initiative deal and while he hasn’t received a start in league play in the early parts of the season, the young attacking midfielder is finding his footing with his new club. Shaffelburg, who was acquired in an off-season trade from Nashville SC, has yet to appear in 2026 due to a pelvic injury.
LAFC is in the midst of one of the most impressive starts in MLS history, becoming the first team to begin a regular season with four straight clean sheets. While some of the die hard fans of this club have complaints about how the team’s results don’t match a clunky eye test, those of us on the outside looking in (including E and myself on Episode 292) can do nothing but scoff at the notion.
This team is coming off of a Saturday night home win over St. Louis City SC and a nail biter in the CONCACAF Champion’s Cup Round of 16 on Tuesday that saw them advance on a stoppage time winner from Venezuelan U22 winger David Martinez. It’s been a packed schedule for LAFC, with eight games in the last 29 days and very little rotation in the starting unit from Dos Santos.
While the scoring has been balanced early in the season (just Martinez and Mathieu Choiniere have multiple goals in league play), LAFC is still very much led by Bouanga and Son. The pair of stud attackers account for 15 of the team’s 38 key passes and 58% of the xG+xA through the first four games. It’s just a matter of time before they explode and I know I can’t be the only Austin FC fan knocking on all the wood in sight that it doesn’t happen this Saturday.
Austin FC Recent Form
Much of the fanbase’s ire after the Charlotte loss was directed at head official Rozendo Mendoza and his crew. Those feelings, at least in The North End, turned inward after the dismal second half against Real Salt Lake.
Austin FC returns to Q2 Stadium on Saturday in a rut, plain and simple. The results have been less than ideal over the past two games and the state of the injury report is twisting the knife. The Verde faithful got another dose of bad news at Thursday’s media availability, as head coach Nico Estévez deemed winger Jayden Nelson as questionable for this match due to a potential nerve issue in his lower back. Yikes!
We’ll have to wait until Friday’s official injury report to see if Robert Taylor will make his return from a sprained knee suffered in the season opening draw against Minnesota United. While everyone involved would surely prefer to have Nelson out there, Taylor’s potential return to the team could help soften that blow, at least from a numbers standpoint.
If Nelson is forced to miss this match, we should expect another short-term loan agreement for Austin FC II’s Jorge Alastuey, who made his MLS debut last week against RSL subbing on for Nelson in the second half. With that appearance, Alastuey is only allowed one more appearance before the first team would be required to sign him to a supplemental contract in order to make further appearances. Something to keep an eye on for the sickos as the injury situation continues to degrade.
There are a few things I’m looking for from Estévez in this game. First, can we figure out a way to configure the formation to allow for Joseph Rosales to play on the left side of the field? For my money, he’s jumped off the screen in each of the two games he’s be shifted to his more natural side mid-game.
Second, will we see the team revert to a 4-4-2 look without the ball? Last week’s departure from the usual look left Austin undermanned in the midfield and continuously put the back line in tough situations. Maybe more importantly, will something like that be recognized and the necessary adjustments made if the opponent’s momentum is causing the game to get away from the home side? To the eye of a novice like myself, I thought the Austin FC staff was out-coached and outclassed on Saturday.
That being said, as I discussed with E on the midweek preview episode, I do feel like we might be collectively lower than we should be on the state of the team right now. This is a prideful group of guys who will have the buzz of a home crowd at their backs on Saturday. With LAFC coming to town, we know they’ll be motivated to make a statement. I’m excited for everyone involved with the Verde and Black to have a chance to bounce back on Saturday night against what is, on paper, a superior opponent.
Injury Report
This is an estimate until the league releases official injury reports on Friday afternoon.
ATX:
Jayden Nelson (Questionable - Back)
Robert Taylor (Questionable - Knee)
Dani Pereira (Out - Hamstring)
Owen Wolff (Out - Sports Hernia)
Brandon Vazquez (Out - Knee)
LAFC:
Stephen Eustaquio (Out - Leg)
Jacob Shaffelburg (Questionable - Pelvis)
Jeremy Ebobisse (Out - Leg)
Igor Jesus (Out - Leg)
Aaron Long (Out - Leg)
Lorenzo Dellavalle (Out - Leg)
LAFC Players to Watch
Heung-Min Son - I don’t think it’s a hot take to suggest that Son is the second best player in MLS at present behind Lionel Messi. The South Korean star is off to a slow start this season relative to the expectations set for a player of his caliber, but LAFC keep on reeling off the victories. He’s played 627 minutes in the last 29 days, essentially the equivalent of a full 90 minutes every four days since the Black and Gold began their CCC run back in mid-February. I’m not shocked to see him be rotated out of the starting unit for this game, but I’d be very surprised if he did not come off the bench and make an immediate impact. Son is already comfortable enough at Q2 Stadium, after recording a goal and assist within four minutes of each other as LAFC eliminated Austin FC from the playoffs last November.
Hugo Lloris - The man with the most caps for the French national team remains between the posts for LAFC. With some of the other big names that have rolled through Los Angeles over the last handful of seasons it can be easy to forget that they’ve got a living soccer legend in net. Clearly, Lloris is still more than capable, beginning the season with an MLS record four straight clean sheets. I’m on record saying he’ll regress to the mean this weekend (he’s given up zero goals on 3.9 expected goals allowed), but that’s easier said than done!
Austin FC Keys to the Game
Ugly Is (Sometimes) Okay - When we talked to Dani Pereira in the preseason we brought up the lack of goal scoring exhibited by Austin FC last season. Pepe responded by saying the team is well aware the fans would like to see as many goals as possible, but that sometimes the focus on winning by any means necessary has to take over. And that’s okay! But there’s a thin line between playing ugly and losing ugly, and this team has been doing the latter since we last saw them play at the Q. When the injury report is as loaded as it is and an opponent like LAFC comes to town, sometimes ugly is okay. Last week E talked about this team “finding a way,” and I’m somewhat echoing that sentiment here as I frequently do on the show. We don’t care how you get it done boys, just bring us the three points.
Predictions
ZG - 0-2 LAFC
E - 1-0 Austin FC
