Los Angeles FC look to remain undefeated Sunday night when they face the visiting Vancouver Whitecaps in a Major League Soccer Western Conference match.
LAFC (2-0-1, 7 points) entered the weekend at the top of the conference standings, while Vancouver (0-2-1, 1 point) is at the bottom having scored just one goal and allowing six in three matches.
LAFC have lost only seven-season matches at home in franchise history. The team has tied its best three-match start to a season with seven points, matching the total from 2019. Success has carried over from last season, as LAFC have lost only one of their last 10 matches (five wins, four draws).
The one loss, a 5-2 defeat in last season’s finale, kept LAFC out of the 2021 playoffs.
Sunday night marks the first match for LAFC goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau against his former team after spending four seasons in Canada, and LAFC assistant coach Marc Dos Santos was 22-37-18 as Vancouver’s head coach from 2018 to midway through the 2021 season.
“When you play against friends, you probably want to win even more,” Vancouver head coach Vanni Sartini said. “It’s going to be fantastic to see them, but it’s going to be even better if we can beat them.”
LAFC is playing their third game at home out of what will be four this season to date.
“We will definitely see an aggressive side, a team trying to prove a point, on Sunday,” LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo said. “It’s a difficult game for us. We have to be good at defending in the box.”
Vancouver has never won a match at Banc of California Stadium, with two losses and three draws. The Whitecaps earned draws in both visits last season after losing the previous two games by a combined score of 12-1.
Including their playoff loss at Kansas City last season, the Whitecaps are winless in six straight matches dating back to the end of last season with three draws and three losses.
–Field Level Media
