{"id":151813,"date":"2025-06-01T16:30:07","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T16:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/its-huge-lafc-qualify-for-club-world-cup-with-epic-comeback-vs-club-america-mlssoccer-com\/"},"modified":"2025-06-01T16:30:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T16:30:07","slug":"its-huge-lafc-qualify-for-club-world-cup-with-epic-comeback-vs-club-america-mlssoccer-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/its-huge-lafc-qualify-for-club-world-cup-with-epic-comeback-vs-club-america-mlssoccer-com\/","title":{"rendered":""It\u2019s huge": LAFC qualify for Club World Cup with epic comeback vs. Club Am\u00e9rica – MLSsoccer.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2013 Today Am\u00e9rica, tomorrow the world.
Igor Jesus<\/a> and Denis Bouanga<\/a> each delivered clutch late goals for LAFC<\/a> in front of a fervent BMO Stadium crowd on Saturday night to complete a stunning 2-1 extra-time comeback win<\/a> over Club Am\u00e9rica, earning the club $9.55 million via qualification to their first-ever FIFA Club World Cup<\/a>.
\u201cIt\u2019s very tough to beat them and today we did it, so very happy for us,\u201d said defender Sergi Palencia<\/a>.
\u201cWe showed big cojones, like we say in Spain. We showed big cojones today.\u201d
This result didn’t come easily. It took a battle, and former Black & Gold winger Brian Rodr\u00edguez opened the scoring for Club Am\u00e9rica from the penalty spot midway through the second half. As the clock ticked toward 90 minutes, it looked as if that lone goal might be enough for Las \u00c1guilas.
But then Jesus connected with Bouanga\u2019s pinpoint corner kick for an 89th-minute equalizer, sending the 3252 supporters\u2019 section behind the goal into raptures. Reminiscent of Gareth Bale\u2019s equalizing header in the 2022 MLS Cup, Jesus’ first goal for the club proved one the Black & Gold faithful will never forget.
\u201cExactly the same feeling as before,\u201d Bouanga said of the parallel emotions. \u201cWe came back and at the end of the day, we won that game. There is nothing else to say.\u201d
Although, Bouanga would have one more thing to say about the result.
Pushing on after pacing the flanks for nearly two hours, Bouanga finally found his breakthrough in the 115th minute, blasting his finish from atop the box past Luis Malag\u00f3n, aided by a deflection that punched LAFC’s ticket to the marquee summer tournament.
\u201cIt\u2019s a $10 million goal, so it\u2019s important for the club. It\u2019s going to open more games. It\u2019s great for the club,\u201d Bouanga said.
\u201cIt\u2019s the most important [goal I\u2019ve ever scored for the club]. It brings us to a competition we were not scheduled to do, so it\u2019s definitely the most important.\u201d
F\u00fatbol champagne, @LAFC<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Y el de siempre\u2026 St. Denis Bouanga. pic.twitter.com\/ibZ7x03dhx<\/a>
The victory places the Black & Gold in CWC Group D alongside Chelsea (England), Flamengo (Brazil) and ES Tunis (Tunisia) in the competition that runs from June 14 to July 13 across the United States.
\u201cIt\u2019s the biggest club tournament possible, so I think anybody that plays in it is lucky,\u201d said homegrown forward Nathan Ordaz<\/a>. \u201cYou grow up watching these big Premier League teams and I want to beat them just like we beat Am\u00e9rica today.\u201d
This year’s tournament has expanded to 32 teams, and the win that got LAFC there may be their biggest in club history.
\u201cIt was personally very gratifying. This was probably the most gratifying moment personally since I\u2019ve been at LAFC,\u201d said head coach Steve Cherundolo. \u201cPersonally, very gratified and I couldn’t be prouder again of the team.\u201d
Behind us for 120+ minutes ✊<\/p>\n

👏 @LAFC3252<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/00VhRLFdzq<\/a>
If anything could make the moment sweeter for LAFC, it’s the opponent they beat. The ever-expanding MLS vs. LIGA MX rivalry makes any victory over a Mexican counterpart that much more meaningful.
\u201cIt\u2019s huge. I hope it pushes the league forward,\u201d said captain Aaron Long<\/a>. \u201cWe knew that we were representing more than our club tonight. We were representing our league.\u201d
The Black & Gold had previously lost all three of their finals played against LIGA MX opposition. But with the winningest club in Mexican history coming to town, all of that noise was put to rest during Cherundolo\u2019s final season in Los Angeles.
\u201cIf I\u2019m honest, we’ve taken this team very, very far in a lot of tournaments, and they’ve shown up in, I think it’s maybe six [or] seven final moments \u2013 eight, I don’t know, I stopped counting \u2013 [and have] come up with some wins and some losses. I tend to hear all of the losses and not the wins and all of the great moments of this team and what this club has done over the last three and a half years,\u201d Cherundolo said of his touchline celebrations.
\u201cIt’s just exactly what you saw.\u2029It’s just pure. It’s just raw emotion. It’s me wanting to celebrate with our players and our fans because they deserve it and we deserve it. It’s kind of a culmination of three and a half years of hard work and dedication that just kind of exposed in that moment, and I don’t know if it’s intuition, but I felt very comfortable after that. There’s no chance, no chance in hell we’re losing that game.\u201d
The moment it became official 🙌 pic.twitter.com\/VSLqfu2o7g<\/a>
The other byproduct of Saturday’s victory, besides pocketing $9.55 million, is the boost in worldwide notoriety LAFC will get as a CWC participant, catapulting the club into a newfound echelon of world football.
Their run gets underway June 16 against Chelsea at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, home of Atlanta United<\/a>. Their Group D slate continues June 20 vs. ES Tunis at Nashville SC<\/a>‘s GEODIS Park and concludes June 24 against Flamengo at Orlando’s Camping World Stadium.
\u201cIt puts, first and foremost, us as a team and club on a pedestal. But also, it helps the league,\u201d Cherundolo said.
\u201cWe are doing good work. We are, I think, maximizing the dollars we get to spend. We maximize and stretch every single dollar to try to compete with the best in our region. And now we get to compete with the best in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

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LOS ANGELES \u2013 Today Am\u00e9rica, tomorrow the world.Igor Jesus and Denis Bouanga each delivered clutch late goals for LAFC in front of a fervent BMO Stadium crowd on Saturday night to complete a stunning 2-1 extra-time comeback win over Club Am\u00e9rica, earning the club $9.55 million via qualification to their first-ever FIFA Club World Cup.\u201cIt\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":151814,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}