LAFC shut out by Austin FC for 3rd straight loss ...Middle East

LOS ANGELES — The scoreline couldn’t have surprised anyone.

For the fourth straight match to begin their season, Ilie Sanchez and his new Austin FC teammates played to a 1-0 result, doing just enough to wind up on the good side of that outcome against the Los Angeles Football Club on Saturday afternoon at BMO Stadium.

For Sanchez, who joined Austin as a free agent after captaining LAFC in 2024, the contest marked a homecoming to a place he admirably represented the past three years.

LAFC was coming off a 2-1 CONCACAF Champions Cup loss on Tuesday at Columbus but still advanced to the tournament quarterfinal on aggregate, prefaced by a 5-2 thrashing at Seattle on March 8.

Ending a taxing stretch of eight matches in 26 days with the first defeat of the year in its building, LAFC struggled to create quality chances or work through Austin’s packed midfield and low block.

Eleven minutes in, the visitors scored the first goal of the year against LAFC at home.

Opening with four clean sheets on their home field, the Black & Gold fell victim to an Owen Wolff corner kick that found Guilherme Biro’s head one step in front of the penalty spot.

Covered by midfielder Mark Delgado, the Brazilian fullback barely had to move as he redirected the perfect cross underneath the diving Hugo Lloris’s right hand.

While Austin (2-2-0, 6 points) made the most of its lone shot on goal in the first 45 minutes, LAFC’s attempt to break down the stingy Austin defense in front of goalkeeper Brad Stuver came up short.

The Black & Gold’s best opportunity was in the 26th minute when new Turkish Designated Player Cengiz Ünder, who earned his first start, hit a left-footed shot that curled wide of the far post.

Ünder managed one more near-chance before exiting in the 63rd minute for David Martínez, one of three changes by Steve Cherundolo at that moment in the match as LAFC searched for a spark that never materialized.

The one bit of good news for LAFC is that for the first time this year they don’t have to prepare for a midweek match. That congested schedule will return over the first two weeks of April when they resume CONCACAF Champions Cup competition with a two-leg quarterfinal series against Inter Miami.

In the meantime, LAFC (2-2-0, 6 points) will head to Sporting Kansas City next weekend and a first-ever contest at San Diego FC on March 29.

More to come on this story.

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