LAFC

HOUSTON — Mark Delgado had a goal and an assist, Son Heung-min had two assists and Hugo Lloris posted a second straight clean sheet to help LAFC beat Houston 2-0 on Saturday night after the Dynamo lost two players to red cards.

Houston defender Antônio Carlos was tagged with a red card in the second minute of stoppage time in a scoreless first half, forcing the Dynamo to play a man down from there.

LAFC (2-0-0) took advantage in the 56th minute when Delgado used assists from Son and Denis Bouanga to score. Delgado scored for the 26th time in 345 career appearances. Bouanga’s second assist in as many matches gives him 22 in 103 career appearances. None of Bouanga’s 66 goals have come against Houston — the only team he has not scored on.

Stephen Eustáquio scored for the first time in his second league appearance to give LAFC an insurance goal in the 82nd minute — six minutes after Agustín Bouzat was hit with a red card that left Houston two men down. Son notched his third assist this season, giving him six in 12 career appearances. Delgado picked up his first assist this season and the 44th of his career.

Lloris totaled two saves in the shutout after LAFC opened with a 3-0 victory over defending MLS Cup champion Inter Miami at home.

Jonathan Bond stopped four shots for the Dynamo (1-1-0), who were coming off a season-opening 2-1 victory over the visiting Chicago Fire.

LAFC earns its first victory in Houston since July 12, 2019 and leads the all-time series 8-5-5. Coach Marc Dos Santos has the club off to a 4-0 start — over a 12-day span — in all competitions for the first time after posting a pair of CONCACAF Champions Cup victories over Real España by a combined score of 7-1 to reach the Round of 16.

Up next for LAFC: vs. FC Dallas at BMO Stadium on Saturday.

More than 75,000 people packed the Coliseum for a soccer game Saturday night.

LAFC hosted the largest crowd for a soccer game in the world last weekend, the largest crowd for an MLS season-opening game and the second-largest in league history.

MLS moved the game from cozy BMO Stadium, LAFC’s regular home, a few hundred feet west to the cavernous 77,000-seat Coliseum because Lionel Messi, arguably the best to ever play the sport, would be there. It worked: The crowd was the largest at the Coliseum for any event in more than six years.

But the people didn’t come to see Messi or his team, Inter Miami, the reigning MLS champion. The crowd was not dressed in Miami pink but in the black and gold of LAFC, which won 3-0.

And that’s a good sign for MLS.

According to one high-ranking MLS executive who has attended multiple Messi games in NFL stadiums, Saturday was the first time he heard he Argentine captain booed.

“The fans immediately started booing Inter Miami and Messi as they came out of the tunnel for warmups,” said the executive, who was not authorized to speak publicly. “And that continued throughout the game. There were hardly any pink jerseys in the crowd. It was a real testament to the incredible fan base of LAFC.”

The league made a trade-off in 2007 when the Galaxy signed David Beckham, who was followed by a steady stream of big-name stars from Thierry Henry, Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Robbie Keane and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Tens of thousands of curious fans came out to cheer the European soccer royalty, not the local teams they were playing against.

Messi took that to another level. Three MLS teams drew the largest crowds in their franchises’ histories when Messi came to town. He brought attention and excitement to MLS and eyeballs to its TV broadcasts.

What the league needed to move to the next level, though, was an authentic fan culture. It needed supporters who cheered for their team through thick and thin, not curious, casual fans who came out to see whatever big-name player was passing through town but never came back.

It has found that with LAFC.

“This atmosphere in the stadium is nice for the team. We know the fans are coming to support us,” LAFC striker Denis Bouanga said. “It’s good for me and my teammates.”

Twice in the last four seasons an LAFC game produced an attendance record. In 2023, LAFC played the Galaxy before 82,110 at the Rose Bowl, the largest crowd in league history. Saturday’s attendance of 75,673 was the second-largest, and largest for a season opener.

LAFC has earned that following. And if the team is the future of MLS, then it will be a bright future.

Since LAFC began play in 2018, no other MLS team has won more games, scored more goals or amassed more points. No other team has won more trophies either. And while LAFC may not have Messi, it’s hardly lacking for star power.

Son Heung-min, the captain of South Korea’s national team and a former English Premier League scoring leader, assisted on LAFC’s first goal Saturday. Bouanga, who scored the second goal, has more regular-season goals than Messi since Messi joined MLS in the summer of 2023. And Hugo Lloris, who pitched the shutout in goal, has played more World Cup games than any other goalkeeper in history.

Lloris also has played in — and won — as many World Cup finals as Messi. In some parts of MLS, Messi is an enemy to be beaten, not a celebrity to be welcomed.

“We want to beat Messi; we want to beat Miami because Messi is there,” Bouanga said. “The motivation is so high for this game. Maybe this game means more.”

Certainly for LAFC supporters it did. Because more than 75,000 of them came to cheer the local team and boo the visiting one, no matter who was wearing that bright pink uniform.

And that’s a good sign for MLS.

LAFC kicked off the MLS season with a 3-0 statement win over reigning champion Inter Miami at a packed Coliseum on Saturday night, giving new coach Marc Dos Santos his first win.

The matchup featured Miami star Lionel Messi and attracted an announced crowd of 75,673, the second-largest for a regular season game in MLS history and the largest for a season opener.

It was LAFC’s ninth win in season-opening games, another record for the club.

Miami tried to impose its game plan early, with several attacks down the right side of the field, and focused on making Messi the focal point of its attack. However, LAFC controlled possession and by the 12th minute already had generated two clear scoring opportunities through Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga.

Son had a great chance during a one-on-one matchup against Canadian goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair, who managed to alter the LAFC winger‘s shooting angle and prevent a goal.

After a poor clearance by Miami, Stephen Eustáquio stole the ball and quickly passed to Son, who saw David Martínez running and sent a deep pass for him. Martínez crossed the ball past Clair, with the Venezuelan opening the scoring in the 37th minute to give LAFC a 1-0 lead.

Martínez had a chance to score again during first-half stoppage time when he took advantage of a defensive error on the right side of the field, but this time his shot grazed the visiting goalkeeper’s right post.

Miami responded with an attack, during which Messi had the perfect angle for a shot from the left, but it sailed close to LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris’ top right post and did not reach the back of the net.

In the second half, Miami came out determined to push LAFC back into its own territory by advancing its lines and looking to support Germán Berterame.

Dos Santos’ team played a waiting game, and its patience paid off when it scored its second goal in the 72nd minute. Son was at midfield when he passed back to Mathieu Choinière, who fed Timothy Tillman, who sent a long pass to Bouanga. The French striker took advantage of Clair’s poor clearance by chipping the ball over the goalkeeper’s head to take a 2-0 lead.

When it looked like that would be the final score, Bouanga slipped away down the left wing and, despite defensive pressure, managed to send in a cross that new substitute Nathan Ordaz tapped in to give LAFC a 3-0 lead during second-half stoppage time.

For LAFC, the match marked the beginning of a new era following the departure of coach Steve Cherundolo, who led some of the most successful chapters in the club’s history, including its first MLS Cup title in 2022.

LAFC opted to maintain continuity under Dos Santos, who was promoted from the assistant coaching ranks following Cherundolo’s exit at the end of last season.

Miami arrived in Los Angeles as the team to beat, with high morale and ambition to defend its title.

The club has had historic seasons, including combined scoring records in the regular season and playoffs, and has consolidated its project with world-renowned figures who have transformed its impact on and off the field.

Under the leadership of coach Javier Mascherano, Miami faces a new season with a mix of experience and youth.

The presence of Messi — who won most valuable player awards and the Golden Boot last year — remains the focus of media and competitive attention for the club.

When LAFC promoted Marc Dos Santos from assistant coach to manager two months ago, there were some perks that came with the new job. A raise, certainly. A better seat on the team charter.

But not as many as you might think.

“The office is a little bit bigger,” he said. “My parking space is exactly the same.”

The biggest perk, however, could also prove the more difficult. After five seasons working under Bob Bradley and Steve Cherundolo, Dos Santos is now the guy calling the shots. And if he misfires, it will be clear who deserves the blame.

Dos Santos welcomes the scrutiny.

“I never coach with the intention of what people think or what people are going to say,” he said. “I’m focused on the group and my job; the validation that is the most important for me is from my owners, from the people in the club that believe in me.

“I’m blessed with the pressure of coaching LAFC, It’s a privilege to be under pressure. But at the same time, I want to start well.”

He’ll get that chance Tuesday, when LAFC faces Honduran club Real España in the first round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup in San Pedro Sula. The MLS season will start four days later against Lionel Messi and Inter Miami, the reigning league champion, at the Coliseum.

Dos Santos, who speaks four languages, has already started putting his stamp on the team by tweaking LAFC’s playing style. Under Cherundolo, who spent his whole playing career in Germany, the team ran a German-influenced, high-press system that combined fast-paced attacking with defensive discipline, emphasizing quick transitions and a compact defensive organization.

But Cherundolo’s teams were also content to concede the ball as much as they controlled it. Dos Santos, conversely, spent the preseason implementing an aggressive possession-based attacking game.

“Marc had a lot to do with what we thought was really good about LAFC. But he had some ideas on how to tweak things,” said general manager John Thorrington, whose team is unbeaten in four preseason games, outscoring opponents 7-3. “What is really impressive is Marc and the staff have begun implementing these tweaks. Everybody is really buying in.”

Which is good since Dos Santos won’t have much of a chance to do any teaching once the season begins. LAFC will start the year with four games in 12 days; if it advances to the second round of the Champions Cup, the team will play nine times in 33 days.

Then in late May, after 16 MLS match days, the season will pause for more than seven weeks for the World Cup.

The vagaries of that schedule will require flexibility and depth and will likely force Dos Santos to rotate players in and out of the lineup. And though LAFC’s roster, led by South Korean captain Son Heung-min and former MLS Golden Boot winner Denis Bouanga, appears top heavy, the coach lauds the depth, with offseason additions including wingers Jacob Shaffelburg and Tyler Boyd and midfielder Amin Boudri.

“People could look very superficially,” he said. “But it’s also a league with a salary cap and there’s so many players that support what are called the more known or star players. That’s important.

“The focus is to surround these players with a system and a way of playing that is going to maximize everybody.”

Dos Santos, 48, has won everywhere he’s managed with one exception: his only other MLS head coaching stint in Vancouver, where he spent parts of three seasons, two of which were impacted heavily by the coronavirus pandemic.

He got his coaching start in his native Canada, then moved to Brazil, where he coached in the youth programs of two clubs and worked as a technical director for another. He returned to North America to manage three lower-division clubs and worked as an assistant with Sporting Kansas City of MLS before Bradley named him to the first LAFC staff in 2018.

After Bradley moved on, Dos Santos returned to LAFC as part of Cherundolo’s first staff. And now, as manager, he’s brought in his own lieutenants, replacing original LAFC assistant Ante Razov with former Seattle assistant Andy Rose — who played for Dos Santos in Vancouver — and adding Spanish coach Xavi Tamarit.

“When you go from assistant coach to head coach, you have to take a few steps back. But you need to make sure you delegate to competent people,” he said. “The people that have joined are really competent and do a really good job.”

The proof of that will come on the field and Dos Santos knows he has big shoes to fill. Under Bradley and Cherundolo, LAFC was the best club team in U.S. soccer over the past eight years, winning more games, earning more points and scoring more goals than any team in MLS. It made the playoffs seven times, played in two MLS Cup finals and two CONCACAF Champions League finals, won two Supporters’ Shields and a U.S. Open Cup.

Thorrington expects the winning to continue under Dos Santos.

“I am confident that we made this decision for the right reasons,” he said. “And those who are not convinced yet will be convinced very soon.”

If they aren’t, LAFC’s famously demanding fans will be calling for the coach’s head. So even though MLS is heavily promoting the regular-season opener with Messi and Inter Miami, Dos Santos isn’t looking past his real first game in charge, which is the Champions Cup game with Real España.

“For me, the only game that counts in my head right now is the game of Feb. 17 in Honduras,” he said. “That’s where I put my energy. And then we’ll deal with the Miami game.”