The man who scored the most goals in Major League Soccer last season had never gone more than five games without a goal. Thankfully, that still holds true.
LAFC forward Denis Bouanga did not score through the team's first four games of the season, but he made up for lost time on Saturday night.
Bouanga opened his 2024 account with a pair of goals and an assist to lead the reigning Western Conference Champions to a 5-0 victory over Nashville SC.
After being held scoreless through their last three matches, LAFC didn't waste any time getting on the board.
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Midfielder Timothy Tillman opened the scoring in the 9th minute of action when he cleaned up a rebound in front of the net for the game's first goal.
Bouanga continued the scoring a few minutes later after Tillman was awarded a penalty kick for a foul inside the box. Bouanga converted the penalty to record his first goal of the season.
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Maybe seeing the ball go into the net was exactly what the French forward needed to spark his scoring. He added a second in the 48th minute, this time off of a beautiful through ball that he slotted home.
Nashville was forced to play with 10 men for the final 30 minutes of the match after Nashville's keeper Joe Willis left the penalty box to make a save, receiving a red card in the process.
That opened up the floodgates as both Christian Olivera and Eduard Atuesta scored in the final twenty minutes to give the black and gold the blowout victory at home.
LAFC's dominant performance puts them in a six-way tie for third place in the Western Conference with seven points on the season (2W-2L-1D). LAFC won the MLS Cup in 2022 and reached the final again in 2023 before losing to the Columbus Crew 2-1 last December.
They'll travel to the Mile High state next weekend where they will take on the Colorado Rapids at Dick's Sporting Goods Park next Saturday at 1:00PM PT.
