Every member of the LAFC starting front three found the scoresheet on Tuesday night as the Black and Gold earned a return trip to the Leagues Cup quarterfinals with a dominant 4-1 team win over San Jose Earthquakes in Olivier Giroud’s club debut at BMO Stadium.
Uruguayan international Cristian “Kike” Olivera kicked off the goalscoring in an exemplary way of a tightly contested first half by beating Quakes center-back Daniel Munie to a 50/50 ball in midfield and finishing clinically past William Yarbrough on the breakaway. After returning from Copa America with his country, Olivera has netted four goals in his four Leagues Cup matches this season — just one off the Golden Boot lead.
San Jose continued to show fight as we’ve come to expect from their newfound Leagues Cup form, forcing an important tackle out of each of the LAFC central defenders in addition to an even more crucial save from legendary French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
Eventually, Quakes found their just reward for the battle they showed when Hernán López found an equalizing header in the 41st minute. Diego Maradona’s great-nephew had been difficult for LAFC to contain all game with his freedom in attacking midfield and were punished for losing track of the Argentinian in the box.
Apathetic toward the deserving nature of San Jose’s equalizer, the Black and Gold refused to go to the half level. In stoppage time, Eduard Atuesta drew a penalty on Yarbrough for Denis Bouanga to bury, as he has done with every penalty he’s taken this season.
LAFC didn’t slow down in the second half as Mateusz Bogusz joined the goalscoring party thanks to a goalkeeping error from Yarbrough followed five minutes later by Bouanga extending the lead to 4-1 on the counterattack assisted by Olivera. Like his opposite winger, Bouanga also marked his fourth goal of the 2024 Leagues Cup to continue his incredible all-time form in the tournament with ten goals and six assists across seven matches.
With the win secured, Steve Cherundolo decided it was time to debut his newest superstar, France’s all-time leading scorer, Olivier Giroud. The former World Cup winner helped see out the victory for his new team as San Jose’s character-building Leagues Cup journey came to an end.
The Black and Gold move on to the quarterfinals, looking to overcome the hurdle they fell at last season, as they travel to Seattle for another Western Conference clash against Sounders on Saturday night.
