The 2023 Concacaf Champions League finalists will be back in the premier continental tournament in North America in 2025 after LAFC clinched their berth on Wednesday night with a dominant 4-0 Leagues Cup semifinal victory over Colorado Rapids at BMO Stadium.
Colorado was able to stifle the Black and Gold for the first half-hour by restricting transition opportunities while giving up a majority of possession away from home and hoping to score on set pieces. Reigning MLS Golden Boot winner Denis Bouanga was the one LAFC player to find space in the opening minutes, forcing a big double save out of in-form Rapids goalkeeper Zack Steffen in the third minute and scoring an offside goal ten minutes later. Colorado gave him too much room to work with but was lucky not to be punished early.
Just when it looked as if the visitors would hold the empty scoreline into halftime, the tendency of LAFC center-back Jesús Murillo to push forward in possession finally paid off for the hosts. The Colombian fooled Colorado’s defense with what looked to be a wall pass for Ryan Hollingshead but was in fact setting up Mateusz Bogusz for a shot as the fullback dummied Murillo’s pass for Bogusz to slot home clinically.
After all the hard work the Rapids put in, it was 1-0 just like that, and conceding the first goal at BMO Stadium is near enough to a death wish in this knockout competition.
Diminishing remaining Rapids hopes further, MLS icon Kei Kamara doubled the lead in the three minutes remaining before halftime on a cutback from Hollingshead.
Legendary French striker Olivier Giroud entered the match at halftime in place of Kamara, quickly finding two shooting opportunities for himself, and forcing a save out of Steffen. Still, it was Bouanga who found the third goal first fifteen minutes into the half going box to box with the ball at his feet on the counterattack to extend his team’s lead. His sixth goal of the tournament brought the Gabonese level atop the Leagues Cup Golden Boot race.
With Giroud still waiting for his first LAFC goal, it was fellow summer signing Lewis O’Brien who hit the back of the net first with a pinpoint finish from the top of the box on his home debut to push the LAFC lead to 4-0 with fifteen minutes remaining.
"I don't normally score many goals,” O’Brien joked postgame. “I've come in to kind of secure the defense up a little bit but obviously to come to the home stadium and then score my first goals is a massive thing."
LAFC saw out their fourth clean sheet of the tournament to book a trip to their sixth final in club history in Columbus — a first Leagues Cup final — in which they will look for revenge from last season’s MLS Cup defeat.
“I want you guys to write that Columbus is the favorite.” LAFC captain Ilie Sánchez told the media as he walked off the pitch victorious.
The Black and Gold follow up three finals appearances last season with their first here in 2024 on Sunday against the Crew. The other black and gold team in MLS was one of three teams to beat LAFC in a final last season — a streak the Southern California side will aim to end in a return trip to Ohio.
"It's a final that's going to be the last game of the cup so we're going to be ready,” Bouanga promised. “It won't be like last year's game. There is that feeling of a revenge. We're going to be eager to win that game on Sunday."
LAFC has already lifted three major trophies in their brief seven-year history and has eyes set on adding a first piece of international silverware to the cabinet this season with a Leagues Cup triumph.
