LOS ANGELES — Fielding starting lineups that made the opening match of the Leagues Cup at a half-empty BMO Stadium seem like a second-string event, the Los Angeles Football Club sorted out the result through 12 rounds of penalty kicks with Mazatlán FC.
Tied 1-1 through 90 minutes, the two teams cycled through their players, each scoring 10 times before the PK rotation recycled back to the beginning.
When Denis Bouanga skied his second shot of the session over the crossbar (he scored his first), a shot from Mazatlán’s Nicolás Benedetti from moments earlier proved to be the difference-maker for the Mexican side, which earned two points to LAFC’s one.
Heading into the joint MLS-Liga MX competition seeking a second straight trip to the tournament title game, which LAFC lost 3-1 to Columbus last summer, the revamped 2025 edition guaranteed that the two leagues would face each other through each of the 54 Phase One games and the quarterfinals once it headed to the knockout rounds.
Taking place without a break in league play, both teams went heavy on the rotation.
Playing in front of an announced crowd of 11,409, LAFC swapped out seven players who had started in Saturday’s 1-0 MLS loss to Portland. Mazatlán, meanwhile, rotated 10 players coming off its 1-0 defeat to Pachuca.
LAFC’s makeshift lineup trended in the right direction from the opening whistle, especially along the right flank where David Martínez’s first start in seven matches culminated in a nifty go-ahead goal from the 19-year-old Venezuelan.
Ten minutes prior to chipping Mazatlán goalkeeper Ricardo Rodríguez Mazzocco with the outside of his left foot to make it 1-0 LAFC, Martínez set up center forward Jeremy Ebobisse for a shot inside the box. A short time later, Ebobisse returned the favor to Martínez in front of the visitor’s net, but his shot smashed off the crossbar.
Martínez eventually got on the board when midfielder Timothy Tillman hit a long ball behind the Mazatlán backline. Off one bounce, Martínez did the only thing he could to score with two defenders draped on his back and Mazzocco charging out of the net as the first-time chip sailed over his head.
Rather than taking control of the contest, LAFC almost immediately let Mazatlán off the hook.
The lone regular in the lineup for Mazatlán, 28-year-old Brazilian striker Fábio Gomes, showed his quality in the 31st minute by turning on a pass behind LAFC’s backline and hammering a shot off the far post for the equalizer.
Until the 1-hour mark, neither team asserted itself with any kind of authority. Then both sides introduced a slew of their normal starters into the mix.
Bouanga, the all-time leading scorer in Leagues Cup play with 12 goals who snapped a string of 26 consecutive starts for LAFC on Tuesday, entered in the 61st minute alongside Sergi Palencia, Nathan Ordaz and Mark Delgado.
LAFC returns for the second of three Phase One matches on Friday night against fellow FIFA Club World Cup entrant C.F. Pachuca.
More to come on this story.
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