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LAFC shut out by Austin FC for 3rd straight loss

March 16, 2025

LAFC midfielder Timothy Tillman, left, chases the ball defended by Austin FC midfielder Ilie Sánchez during the second half of an MLS match at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, on Saturday, March 15, 2025. Austin FC won 1-0. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)

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LOS ANGELES — The scoreline couldn’t have surprised anyone.

For the fourth straight match to begin the Major League Soccer season, Ilie Sanchez and his new Austin FC teammates played to a 1-0 finish, doing just enough to wind up on the good side of that outcome Saturday afternoon at BMO Stadium.

For Sanchez, who joined Austin as a free agent after captaining the Los Angeles Football Club in 2024 and helping the club win its lone MLS Cup in 2022, the contest marked a homecoming to a place he admirably represented the past three years.

Before, during and after the contest, Sanchez, 34, interacted with people throughout the announced crowd of 22,111 at BMO Stadium.

With a quarter hour remaining, Sanchez played peacemaker and asked the 3252 supporters in the north end to keep calm after LAFC midfielder Timothy Tillman mixed it up with Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver in the box. The Spaniard played 85 minutes, a season high, before taking in the final moments with his teammates on the sidelines.

“Ilie’s a great guy,” Long said. “We all love and respect him here, so wishing him nothing but the best.”

Ending a difficult mix of eight MLS and CONCACAF Champions Cup matches in 26 days with its first defeat of the year at home, LAFC struggled to create quality chances or work through Austin’s packed midfield and low block, which Sanchez anchored deep in the midfield.

“We prefer to play lots of games in multiple competitions,” LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo said. “It is a challenge we took on and it’s physically very demanding for our players, and mentally as well. So it’s there, but again, we like that. We love that. It’s not an excuse, but I think it’s very clear to see.”

Austin took the lead 12 minutes in when the visitors scored the first goal of the year against LAFC at BMO Stadium.

Opening 2025 with four clean sheets here, the Black & Gold fell victim to an Owen Wolff corner kick that found Guilherme Biro’s head one step in front of the penalty spot. Covered by midfielder Mark Delgado, the Brazilian fullback barely had to move as he redirected the perfect cross underneath the right hand of a diving Hugo Lloris, whose clean sheet streak concluded at 372 minutes.

While Austin (2-2-0, 6 points) made the most of its lone shot on goal in the first 45 minutes, LAFC’s attempt to break down the stingy Austin defense in front of Stuver fell short.

At full time, Stuver made three saves to Lloris’s two.

Each side put three shots on goal, and LAFC dominated possession by a 2-to-1 margin as Austin was happy to deny Cherundolo’s group transition opportunities while bogging things down.

After scoring three times in eight days, Denis Bouanga was denied a score despite a game-high six shots, including each on-target attempt for LAFC.

LAFC’s best opportunity in the first half came in the 26th minute when Turkish Designated Player Cengiz Ünder, who earned his debut start on the right wing and became the first Turkish-born player in Major League Soccer, hit a left-footed curler that turned just wide of the far post.

Ünder managed one more near-chance before exiting in the 63rd minute for David Martínez, who was one of three players Steve Cherundolo brought on at that moment as LAFC searched for a spark that never materialized.

“We had a ton of the ball but just didn’t find a way to get that first goal,” LAFC captain Aaron Long said. “I think a first goal would have changed a lot for us, but having that 1-nil lead really allowed them to sit in that low block, bunker in, and stop us in our transition game.”

For the first time this season, LAFC did not get on the board, as Austin snapped a six-game winless streak against their hosts since 2022.

If there’s good news for Long and his teammates coming off three straight losses — the defeat in Columbus on Tuesday still allowed them to advance in the CONCACAF Champions Cup — it is that for the first time this year they won’t have to prepare for a midweek match.

“We would have loved to end this big block on a win and come out with nine points,” Long said. “That was our goal going into this big block, so a little bit of a bitter taste in our mouth, but finally we can hit the league with a couple days off, and a lot of preparation not feeling like we’re running on E.”

Since starting at Colorado on Feb. 18, LAFC went 4-4, winning four of five at home.

The congested schedule, however, returns the first two weeks of April with the two-leg CONCACAF quarterfinal series against Inter Miami. Meanwhile, LAFC (2-2-0, 6 points) visits Sporting Kansas City next weekend and heads to a first-ever contest at San Diego FC on March 29 during a stretch of four away dates over the club’s next five matches.

Said Cherundolo: “If you’re losing games because you’re a little fatigued and your chance creation is down in the moment but you know the solutions and know they’ll be there next week, it’s not too concerning.”

LAFC shut out by Austin FC for 3rd straight loss Orange County Register

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LAFC shut out by Austin FC for 3rd straight loss

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