LAFC make Earthquakes pay in front of record crowd

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The invasion of Heung Min Son made its way to the Bay Area in front of a record crowd of 50,978 at the home of the San Francisco 49ers.

The former Tottenham Spurs captain and Korean national was all the buzz before the match but it was his teammate Denis Bouanga that stole his thunder recording a hat trick in LAFC's 4-2 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday evening at Levi's Stadium.

San Jose has lost three out of their last four matches and occupies the 9th and final wild card spot in the Western Conference. LAFC has earned points in four out of its five past matches.

Turnovers told the story for San Jose as LAFC took advantage of the Quakes lack of sharpness to start the match. San Jose turned the ball over early and often in the first 15 minutes of the match as they mentally weren't prepared to start the match against one of the best teams in the Western Conference.

LAFC (12-7-8-44 points) began the fireworks in the first minute of the match. A bad turnover by San Jose led to Marco Delgado finding Artem Smolyakov along the left wing. Smolyakov crossed the ball over to Son who easily tapped the ball into an empty net for his second goal in an LAFC kit.

"(Heung Min) Son and Denis (Bouanga) are very difficult to defend. They combine well, both are a threat, good finishers, and we're static to have them both. We're going to do our best to make sure that we're getting both players in positions to score throughout the end of the season," LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo.

Denis Bouanga scored the first of his two goals in the ninth minute. Bouanga stripped the ball off of Daniel Munie along the sideline at midfield. Bouanga raced down the pitch before depositing the ball off of Quakes goalkeeper Daniel for his 16th goal of the season.

Three minutes later Bouanga had the brace when he broke away from the Quakes defense while staying onside when Sergei Palencia chipped a long ball down the right wing. Bouanga dribbled in all alone before chipping the ball over Daniel into the far corner of the net for his 17th goal of the season.

“I have to accept the responsibility that we have two of our better players in (Chicho) Arango and (Cristian) Espinoza turning the ball over right in the opening minute of the game that helped create their goal. We have to be better to start a game. They're veteran players and they have to be a little bit sharper. You got to give the opponent credit, to turn that into a goal. But poor playing on our part and having a team step on the field and play the way we did in the open minutes of the games, it’s on me. I’m quite surprised at the way we stepped on the field in the opening minutes of the game," Quakes head coach Bruce Arena said.

San Jose (9-13-8-35 points) finally stopped the bleeding in the 18th minute when they got on the scoreboard. Chicho Arango threaded the needle with a pass between two LAFC defenders into the middle of the box. Preston Judd raced in and fired a shot past LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris for his seventh goal of the season.

LAFC put the game away in the 87th minute when Bouanga finished off his hat trick. Palencia came in from the right wing after taking a long ball from midfield. Palencia got Daniel to come out before sending the ball over to Bouanga who tapped in his team leading 18th goal of the season into an empty net. Bouanga finished with four points as he was involved in all four of his team's goal.

“We haven't played a back four for a long time, but we had a whole week to work on it. I think we felt pretty good, and we wanted to isolate Rodrigues, because he played really well against (Denis) Bouanga the first time when we went away against LAFC. The way they shaped up was a little different, and he didn't receive the ball too much in the touchline. They were running behind a lot. I think we were a little naïve in the way we approached that and didn't really change," Earthquakes midfielder Ian Harkes said.

The Earthquakes cut the lead in half the 90th minute when Benji Kikanovic crossed the ball into the middle of the box. Josef Martinez's bicycle kick attempt missed the ball and hit off the knees of Palencia into the back of the net for an own goal. However, it was too little, too late for San Jose as they were dominated their SoCal rival from start to finish.

Lloris, who made three spectacular saves in the second half, earned his 12th win of the season. Daniel made two saves on six shots in the losing effort.

"You can tell on the pitch that everybody put the effort, and that's why we got the win tonight," said LAFC midfielder Mathieu Choinière.

GAME NOTES: San Jose finished with 10 corner kicks. LAFC had two.

The previous record for a home Earthquakes game was 50,850 at 2019 California Classico at Stanford Stadium.

The Quakes are now 7-12-1 against LAFC in MLS regular season play with a 6-3-0 record at home.

Judd’s 18th-minute goal was his 11th of his career.

Arango’s 18th-minute assist was his seventh of the season in MLS play and 28th of his career. He increased his tally to five goal contributions (2G/3A) in just four meetings with LAFC.

The Quakes snapped a six-game unbeaten streak in all competitions at Levi’s Stadium tonight (4-0-2).

San Jose hosts St. Louis City SC on Saturday September 20th at 7:30pm at PayPal Park.