Over a week before LAFC travels to British Columbia for a mouthwatering Western Conference Semifinal matchup against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday night (9:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV), the hosts announced BC Place had already sold out for the match, expectedly setting the club's new Audi MLS Cup Playoffs attendance record with over 53,000 spectators set to pack the stadium.
"It's going to be hopefully a great game," foreshadowed Whitecaps head coach Jesper Søresnen.
"It's going to be two very good teams coming up against each other with some very good players and exciting players as well. There will be a full stadium, and hopefully it will be a great game, and for us, we'll be ready for it."
Clash of styles
"People always say what they want, no matter how well you do," prefaced LAFC midfielder Mark Delgado. "It doesn't really matter how you win or how you get up in these standings, as long as you win."
Perhaps no matchup in these playoffs exemplifies that mentality better than Saturday's clash between two diametrically opposed styles of play.
"There’s a lot of different styles in this league," Sørensen stated. "We have our style of play. We would like to get up and play high up the pitch, and they would like to counter. So we have to also be focusing on the balance of the game, and we've done that throughout the season, and it will be a theme again for us."
In his first year at the helm in Vancouver, Sørensen has implemented a team-first, possession-based tactical approach, leading to a second-place finish in MLS Coach of the Year voting and the highest points total in 'Caps history (63).
Meanwhile, in his final season at the helm of LAFC, head coach Steve Cherundolo has continued his shift toward a more direct approach, often reliant on his stars to perform.
Luckily for the Black & Gold, they have. Together, Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-Min have scored 22 of LAFC's last 28 goals, including an MLS record 18 straight for the club.
Vancouver's own superstar, Thomas Müller, has a clear takeaway.
"We know how good this team can be," he said. "But if you look back at the last couple of weeks, they are very reliant on Bouanga and Son. So if they're not scoring, they don't score. It's very tough to keep these two very quiet during the game, but if we get it done, then we have a good chance."
The same concern does not exist for the Whitecaps, who set their own league record with 21 different MLS goal scorers this season.
Some similarities
As obvious as their differences, many parallels have been drawn between the midseason superstar additions of Müller and Son, but the resemblances don't end there.
Both teams thrive on early leads and finish strong. Vancouver are unbeaten in MLS when scoring first this season (16W-0L-3D) or holding a lead at halftime (13W-0L-2D), while LAFC is similarly unbeaten when ahead at the break (12W-0L-3D), having only lost once when scoring first in the league this season (15W-1L-4D).
That all becomes even more impactful when you notice that each team's highest-scoring periods come during the final 15 minutes of each half.
Given these statistics, an early lead may be indicative of a positive result, or instead, the final 15 minutes of the match, in which Vancouver have scored 16 goals this season and LAFC have scored 21, could provide dramatic, late fireworks.
"The only way you can match aggressiveness is to be the same," Cherundolo noted.
"I think matching Vancouver's work rate, matching Vancouver's aggressive mentality, is the very least what we need to accomplish there if we want to come away as winners. But I know this team, I know my group, and we're more than capable of doing that."
Rivalry renewed
In the past couple of seasons, Cherundolo's LAFC have not only shown they have the capability of beating Vancouver, but they've proven to be the Whitecaps' kryptonite.
Last year, the Black & Gold ended Vancouver's season in Round One of the playoffs. The year prior, LAFC swept the 'Caps in Round One, 6-2 on aggregate, after also walloping the Canadian side, 6-0 on aggregate, to knock them out of the 2023 Concacaf Champions Cup.
“Hopefully, the thing is going to be different as we come out winners this time," said Whitecaps captain Ryan Gauld.
"We've not had good luck against LA the last couple of years. We all know how good they are, but if you want to win the trophies, you've got to beat the best teams. So it's going to be a good challenge for us and hopefully we'll turn things around this time.”
Added Müller, "I was not in there the last years, so I have no bad memories or anything else. For me, it's just my first conference semi. We're going to beat them. That's what I'm thinking about this game."
Personally, Bouanga terrorized the Whitecaps in those playoff matches, netting four goals to extend his career tally against Vancouver to 9g/7a in 13 matches.
"I can’t fully explain it," the Gabon international said of the noteworthy contribution record. "I like to play them here [in LA] or at their stadium, whether it's synthetic grass and so on, but yeah, I can’t really explain why I’m really effectively playing against them. I hope this will continue tomorrow."
But those past successes all came against Vanni Sartini-led Whitecaps teams. In just one season under Sørensen, Vancouver already set a club-record points total, reached their first-ever Concacaf Champions Cup Final, and beat LAFC, 1-0, in their last meeting at BMO Stadium in June.
Will they add a first-ever Western Conference Final appearance to the list?
"I know about the history about Vancouver and LAFC, and yeah, we can try and see if we can change things, but this is a new group," Sørensen pointed out.
"This is a new team and they are also a new group and a new team for most parts. I think it's just two very good teams from this season and ... it's going to be exciting and it's going to be nerve-racking and it's going to be a lot of stuff, but we'll be ready."
Concurred Cherundolo, "I think it's certainly the most competitive, Vancouver [vs.] LAFC [or] LAFC [vs.] Vancouver, we've seen yet."
