By Ricardo Lopez Juarez
The tremendous start to the season continued for LAFC on Saturday night, when Denis Bouanga scored three goals and Son Heung-min provided four assists -both in the first half- and the goal of the Los Angeles club remained intact in the 6-0 against Orlando Metropolis at the BMO Stadium.
Denis Bouanga’s hat-trick occurred in just 9 minutes (between the 20th and 28th minutes) against one of the worst teams in this young MLS season. LAFC showed no mercy in that first half and continued adding scores.
With this 6-0, the LAFC is confirmed as the best in the MLS now with 16 points product of five wins and one draw. And the black and gold club improves a league record that it had already achieved in its previous game, as it is now the first team in the history of the circuit to open a campaign with six games without allowing a goal, a total of 540 minutes.
Ten games without losing including MLS and Concacaf
Including Concacaf matches, LAFC now has 10 consecutive games without losing this season. In this period, the Los Angeles club led by Marc Dos Santos has accumulated 24 goals scored and only 3 received.
LAFC opened the scoring in the 7th minute when Son Heung-min was left alone inside the area after a pass from Segi Palencia and shot hard. The ball hit defender David Brekalo and went into the net for an own goal.
At 20 minutes he scored the second and it was possibly the best play of the game. The Korean Son received in the middle of the court and served perfectly to Bouanga, who, before the departure of goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau, resolved with a Vaseline.
Most goals by Denis Bouanga in the first half
Three minutes later, LAFC went on a counterattack. Son made the hitch in his own field and served Bouanga deep. The Franco-Gabonese striker this time cut inwards and then shot from the right to make it 3-0.
AND At 28′ the Son-Bouanga combination was repeated again for 4-0. The Orlando Metropolis defense made a mistake at the start. Bouanga stole and immediately made a wall with Son, who left him alone for the scorer to shake the nets with a cannon shot.
At 39 minutes the fifth goal arrived. Bouanga, further back, filtered the ball for Son and the South Korean star, close to the baseline, delayed in diagonal for the arrival of Palencia, who scored the goal from the right. It was “Sonny’s” fourth assist of the game..
Already with several substitutes in the match, LAFC added the score to 6-0 with a cross from Canadian Jacob Schaffelburg and a header from Tyler Boyd.
Orlando Metropolis had several dangerous arrivals in the second half, but Frenchman Hugo Lloris made good saves among his six with which he finished the game.
Venezuelan David Martínez seemed to score 7-0 for LAFC in the 85th minute, but it was disallowed for offside.
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