Los Angeles FC Handle Real Salt Lake yet Again
Los Angeles FC extended its dominance over Real Salt Lake with a 3–0 victory in Sandy, Utah, on Saturday night, May 13.
First half goals from Kwadwo Opoku and Denis Bouanga propelled LAFC to its fourth straight regular season road win and seventh consecutive victory overall in the series. They have won 11 of 12 regular-season matches against RSL dating back to their inaugural MLS season.
Los Angeles (6–1–3, 21 points) converted on three of the four shots it put on goals. Overall, they rank second among Western Conference teams in scoring with 20 goals through 10 matches.
Salt Lake (3–6–2, 11 points) posted clean sheets in its previous two matches but it has not scored a goal in its last three.
Five different players generated a shot on goal for RSL, but none were able to finish those chances. Rubio Rubin led the way, generating five total shots before halftime. All of his attempts were off-target or blocked.
Los Angeles got on the board in the eighth minute with Opoku’s goal, which snapped Salt Lake’s streak of going 229 minutes without allowing a goal. Opoku settled a long through ball from Ilie Sanchez, beating a pair of RSL defenders to the punch, and blasted the ball into the top right corner after crossing into the box.
Bouanga doubled up LAFC’s lead in the 35th minute with his ninth goal of the season. Carlos Vela fed the ball to him outside the top of the box. Bouanga unleashed a rocket and buried a left-footed shot in the top right corner like Opoku did earlier in the half.
Mateusz Bogusz added an insurance goal by converting a penalty kick in the 87th minute.
Salt Lake’s lone regular season win over Los Angeles came back in 2020.
