Steve Cherundolo: “These are the games that are important to win”

The MLS Cup reigning champions continue their undefeated streak in the start of the 2023 Major League Soccer season. Denis Bouanga scored a late goal in the 84th minute to give Los Angeles FC a 2-1 win over FC Dallas on Saturday night at BMO Stadium to secure third place in the standings in the Western Conference.

“What I told the players after the game was that these are the games that are very important to win. When you’re not playing at your best and you can still win, it’s a great sign for the group. It’s an important obstacle or hurdle to get over because Dallas is a very good team. These points are ours and we’re happy with that, but we will certainly learn from this performance moving forward,” said head coach Steve Cherundolo.

Tillman set the pace

Timothy Tillman scored within just two minutes and 14 seconds of the kick-off and broke a milestone in the history of the club. The German player scored the fifth fastest goal in the history of LAFC, just behind Danny Musovski, Dejan Jakovic, Eduard Atuesta and Cristian Arango.

LAFC was able to bounce back after Carlos Vela missed a penalty kick that could’ve given the team a comfortable lead. The home side also struggled to win the game even though FC Dallas was a man down when Ema Twumasi was shown the red card in the 35th minute and they managed to tie the game in the 73rd.

“I think it was a tough match today. We had to fight a lot even though Dallas was down one man, but we managed to get the win, that’s all that matters at this point. Of course, we’re happy the way it turned out because after a missed penalty it’s kind of hard to come back, but we managed that and that’s really good,” said Tillman after the game.