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    LAFC looks to shake its offensive struggles at Nashville
    • May 16, 2026

    Since the Los Angeles Football Club entered Major League Soccer in 2018, no team has more points, wins or goals than the Black & Gold.

    Year over year, LAFC squads generated and capitalized on numerous chances in front of opposing goalkeepers, prompting three separate attackers to claim the Golden Boot in a five-season span.

    After Carlos Vela (2019) and Diego Rossi (2020), Denis Bouanga was the latest in 2023, marking the start of three straight 20-goal seasons for the Frenchman, an MLS first.

    The past two years, Bouanga took the most shots on target of any player in the league, including an LAFC-best 73 in 2025. Yet a third of the way through Bouanga’s fifth year in L.A., the number of chances he is hitting on frame has dipped.

    Currently 12th in shots on target, the forward is one of 13 players with five goals. Another 21 have scored six or more.

    This trend is not limited to LAFC’s all-time leading goal scorer.

    After tallying nine goals in 10 regular season games following his arrival last summer, Son Heung-min hasn’t scored in the league in 2026. Making 10 starts in 11 appearances, the South Korean star’s five shots on target put him fourth on the team behind Bouanga (19), David Martínez (8) and Tyler Boyd (6).

    Son remains No. 1 in MLS with eight assists entering the weekend. However, half of those came in a 6-0 rout of Orlando on April 4.

    The result versus Orlando also gave LAFC 16 out of 18 possible points and a 15-0 goal differential in MLS to start the year.

    Of the 21 points that have been up for grabs since the hot start, LAFC earned only five while conceding 14 times for a minus-seven goal differential.

    This slide continued Wednesday in St. Louis with a 2-1 defeat to an opponent near the bottom of Supporters’ Shield standings, dropping LAFC (6-4-3, 21 points) to fifth in the Western Conference.

    Tied for 13th in MLS with 21 goals, LAFC finds itself middle of the pack in shots on target, and third worst in accurate shot percentage (33.3%). Those numbers, should they persist, would all represent the lowest single-season marks for an LAFC squad.

    In eight seasons under head coaches Bob Bradley and Steve Cherundolo, LAFC never finished worse than ninth in goals scored or lower than third in shots on target. Ten times LAFC has ended seasons ranked first or second in those statistical categories.

    When Marc Dos Santos, the third head coach in LAFC history, looks back at his short time on the job, there’s no doubt in his mind that the physical, mental and emotional fatigue associated with an unyielding MLS schedule and a run to the CONCACAF Champions Cup semifinal — featuring trips to Honduras, Costa Rica and twice to Mexico — has his players operating on fumes.

    Lapses in the quality of passes and overall concentration have made things on the field particularly difficult for LAFC, Dos Santos said in the wake of last weekend’s 4-1 defeat at home to Houston.

    “What needs to change is doing the little things right,” Dos Antos explained Saturday, referencing several lost 1v1 duels in recent weeks as an example.

    Regaining confidence “with the way we keep the ball, the way we get in the opponent’s half, the way we originate and create chances,” said Dos Santos, “these are important things for us.”

    So far, fiddling with formations and player combinations has not made a difference.

    LAFC has two more opportunities to feel better about itself heading into a nearly eight-week FIFA World Cup break.

    Sunday they complete a six-day road trip at Eastern Conference leading Nashville SC, and next weekend the Seattle Sounders visit BMO Stadium.

    Like LAFC, Nashville arrived in the Champions Cup semifinal, eventually bowing out to Tigres UANL. But unlike LAFC, which exited CCC against Toluca, Nashville (8-1-3, 27 points) navigated the extra games well. Going unbeaten over their last six league matches, Nashville has scored 26 goals and conceded eight after a dozen MLS contests.

    LAFC AT NASHVILLE SC

    When: Sunday, 5 p.m. PT

    Where: GEODIS Park, Nashville, Tenn.

    TV/Radio: Apple TV/710 AM, SiriusXM FC 157, 980 AM, 1230 AM

    ​ Orange County Register 

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