Denis Bouanga’s late goal lifts LAFC past San Jose
LOS ANGELES — Arguably the most effective striker in Los Angeles Football Club history came face to face with arguably its most disappointing signing at the attacking spot on Saturday.
In the end, neither Cristian “Chicho” Arango nor Olivier Giroud got on the board in a Major League Soccer regular season contest at BMO Stadium, which LAFC won 2-1 against the San Jose Earthquakes.
The game-winning goal went to another forward, LAFC’s back-to-back 20-goal man Denis Bouanga, who connected in the 86th minute for his first score through eight league games this year.
The finish gave LAFC a two-goal edge after Sergi Palencia’s picture-perfect volley in the 65th minute, but San Jose denied Hugo Lloris a fourth shutout this year when Christian Espinoza finished his second of the season shortly into 12 minutes of stoppage time.
Returning home following Wednesday’s CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinal loss to Inter Miami CF, LAFC sought to pick up the pieces in league play after falling in four of its previous five MLS contests.
The result lifted LAFC (4-4-0, 12 points) above San Jose (3-4-1, 10 points) in the conference standings on a night when Arango started opposite Giroud, who joined the Black & Gold last summer coming off a productive campaign in Italy with AC Milan.
Arango arrived in L.A. during the summer window in 2021 from Millonarios Fútbol Club in the top tier of Colombian soccer, and the crafty forward made an immediate impact, quickly turning into one of the team’s beloved players.
Through 51 regular-season games with LAFC, Arango scored 30 goals and became an energizing focal point.
Giroud has had fewer games with LAFC, but there’s no debating that through 16 scoreless league games, his performances have been far less energizing than Arango’s and he’s rarely been the focal point.
The French legend had chances before coming off in the 88th minute, looking more lively than he had through much of the early season so far.
Yet once again, he failed to finish.
“Attackers, of course, are judged by their production, and his production numbers are not there where he would like them to be, nor are they there where we’d like them to be,” LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo said in March. “Those are facts, and that is something that he deals with, we deal with, but his effort in training, his effort in the locker room being a good teammate, his effort in the games is always there and we’ve never questioned that. He’s a great guy and important for our team. Yeah, of course, he would love to have scored more goals and we’d like the same, but that’s the situation. We don’t really dwell on the past here. We move forward and try to make the most out of the time coming and the next games ahead.”