Bouanga's equalizer rescues a point as LAFC’s missed chances loom large against Portland

LOS ANGELES — LAFC spent most of Saturday night attacking the Portland Timbers. The Black & Gold moved the ball into dangerous areas, kept Portland pinned deep and repeatedly tested goalkeeper James Pantemis. The problem was what happened once those chances arrived.

LAFC set a club record with 34 shots, including 21 in the first half alone, but needed Denis Bouanga’s 79th-minute equalizer to escape BMO Stadium with a 1-1 draw. For a team that had dropped its previous two matches, the performance offered plenty for Marc Dos Santos to build on. The result, however, left the coach and his players wondering how three points got away.

“It’s hard to explain because the chances were many,” Dos Santos said. “If we win the game 4-1, it could have been a fair result.”

Portland needed only four minutes to put LAFC in that position.

Kristoffer Velde took advantage of a loose ball near midfield and raced into transition, finding David Da Costa between three defenders. Da Costa finished past Hugo Lloris before LAFC could recover, giving the Timbers an early lead and forcing the home side to chase the game for the next 75 minutes.

Aaron Long acknowledged how much that goal changed the match.

“When you give them that glimmer of hope, when they score first, and they can all taste three points or one point, their game plan changes,” Long said. “It makes it harder for us.”

LAFC responded with pressure rather than panic. Mathieu Choinière nearly equalized with a clever individual effort that Pantemis pushed wide, while Yevhen Cheberko and Bouanga also had opportunities. Jacob Shaffelburg put a header just wide, and Pantemis repeatedly kept LAFC from turning its territorial advantage into a goal.

The chances kept coming, but so did the missed opportunities.

Choinière scuffed an attempt from the edge of the six-yard box. Shaffelburg later failed to connect cleanly with a Bouanga cross in front of goal. By halftime, LAFC had produced 21 shots and still had nothing to show for it.

Pantemis finished with 10 saves, making the attacking performance even more difficult to evaluate. Dos Santos pointed to the 48 touches LAFC had in Portland’s half and the number of times his team reached the byline as evidence that the approach was working.

The finishing simply did not follow.

“We got to the byline a lot. We tried to break their block a lot and created chances, big ones,” Dos Santos said. “You have to use other solutions.”

Bouanga eventually provided one.

After a night in which the forward had already registered a career-high 12 shots, he collected a pass from Jude Terry, created enough space between two defenders and hammered a right-footed shot from outside the box past Pantemis in the 79th minute.

It was LAFC’s 30th shot of the night and the club’s first MLS goal in 312 minutes.

Bouanga admitted afterward that defenses have made it increasingly difficult for him to find shooting lanes, often surrounding him with multiple defenders. His answer was to keep moving, passing when necessary and taking the risk when an opening appears.

That approach finally paid off.

“I need to take the risk like tonight,” Bouanga said. “Sometimes it’s working, sometimes not.”

The point stopped LAFC’s losing streak, but it did little to ease the frustration of dropping points at home. The club is now 10-7-5 with 35 points and remains third in the Western Conference, while five of its next six matches will come on the road.

Long sees that stretch as a test of where LAFC is headed.

“This next stretch of six games is going to tell us a lot about who we are as a team and where we’re going to finish in the table,” he said.

Dos Santos, meanwhile, left the night focused more on the performance than the standings. He believes the intensity, pressing and attacking numbers LAFC produced against Portland are the foundation the team needs moving forward.

“If we show up like that in every game, we’re gonna win a lot of games,” he said.

The challenge now is making sure performances like Saturday’s start producing more than one point.