On Tuesday night at the Banc of California Stadium, LAFC increased their winning streak to seven and improved to 18-4-3 overall with a league-best 57 points.
With a nine-point lead over Austin FC and the Philadelphia Union, LAFC is in a prime position to capture the Supporters’ Shield for the second time in the franchise history.
Since the Seattle Sounders won nine straight games during the 2018 season, this is the second-longest winning run in MLS.
“With the three points, we’re pleased. We needed to win this game badly since it extended both our advantage in the division and our chances of taking home the Supporters’ Shield”, LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo said.
“We need to get better at playing in the final third of the field.
“We had a solid Max Crepeau in the net; without him, we would have ended up losing or drawing. We will discuss and evaluate this to play better against San Jose on Saturday.”
Max Crepeau, the Canadian goalkeeper made three crucial stops to preserve the clean sheet. While Kwadwo Opoku, with a little help from Cristian Arango, scored the game-winning goal to give LAFC the victory.
Los Angeles FC took advantage of DC United losing a man, despite not being one of their greatest performances. And Kwadwo Opoku, who played for just five minutes, scored the only goal to earn his club its seventh straight victory and solidify its place as the best in MLS.
The goal was scored by Opoku in the 67th minute of a difficult game that took place at the Banc of California Stadium, and it wasn’t until DC United was down a man because of Steven Birnbaum’s red card that they were able to get on the right track to victory.
The team announced that load management will resume, exactly as it did in the 5-0 victory against Charlotte FC, in the pre-game notice that neither Gareth Bale nor Giorgio Chiellini were even on the bench.
The first half of LAFC’s match with DC United was one to forget; the home team had few opportunities to threaten David Ochoa’s goal, and when they did, they did so by shooting to the side of or above the net.
Carlos Vela made an effort, but he was largely ignored during the game.
To everyone’s surprise, Wayne Rooney’s squad was the most dangerous for the first 45 minutes, but goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau produced two outstanding saves on attempts from Jackson Hopkins and Victor Pálsson.
LAFC scored, and DC United received a red card at the start of the second half. Carlos Vela made a risky attempt, but it was almost wide.
The game ended 1-0 in favor of the host team after DC United’s Birnbaum was dismissed after receiving a second caution in the 60th minute of the encounter.
