Preview | LAFC vs. RBNY – 2026 MLS Season

🏟 | BMO Stadium – Los Angeles, CA

LAFC returns home to face Red Bull New York on Korean Heritage Night at BMO Stadium this Wednesday, September 9, at 7:30 p.m. PT. Spectators are invited to arrive early as the Black & Gold celebrates the Korean community of Los Angeles with prematch activities, Korean-inspired menu items (see below), and special guests. 

LAFC (10W-7L-7D, third in the Western Conference) is coming off two hard-fought draws on the road against D.C. United and Real Salt Lake, with scoring stars Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-Min assisting each other to account for LAFC’s two goals in Saturday night’s 2-2 tie in Utah.

Red Bull New York (7W-10L-6D, 10th in the Eastern Conference) drew 0-0 against an injury-ravaged Seattle Sounders side on Saturday night, as RBNY goalkeeper Ethan Horvath turned in one of the better performances by an MLS goalkeeper this season. Horvath, the former U.S. Men’s National Team starter, had six saves, most of them acrobatic and at point-blank range, to record his second clean sheet of the MLS regular season. 

Wednesday night’s match in LA pits Major League Soccer’s most experienced team, LAFC, against its youngest. RBNY’s starting XI in Seattle was the youngest in league history, with an average age of just 22 years, 24 days old.

LAFC has suffered just two losses in 12 matches in all competitions since the FIFA World Cup break, both by 1-0 score lines – with one coming on a stoppage-time penalty kick and the other on a deflected own goal. Since the World Cup, LAFC has outscored opponents 17-9 in all competitions. 

Injuries have impaired the club’s personnel options recently; as a result LAFC has a negative-1 goal differential over its nine matches since August 1 (seven goals scored, eight conceded). 

“Our focus is to get back to [earning] the full three points,” head coach Marc Dos Santos said after the draw in Utah. “We’re tying way too many games. Now we have to look for the three points at home against New York … Our next game is the most important one on Wednesday.”

Bouanga’s goal and assist against RSL on Saturday gave him 20 goal contributions in MLS play in 2026 (12 goals, 8 assists), making him one of just seven players to reach that mark thus far this season.

Bouanga’s next goal will tie him with Carlos Vela for the most MLS regular-season goals scored in LAFC history. Vela scored 78 regular-season goals in Black & Gold between 2018 and 2023. Last year Bouanga became LAFC’s top scorer across all competitions. To date he has scored 120 goals, all told, for LAFC.

Son scored his fifth goal of the MLS regular season over the weekend. Son’s assist against RSL was his 11th in MLS play, tying him for second in the league (Messi, 12).

Bouanga and Son rank 10th and 15th in MLS, respectively, in key passes (defined as a pass that leads directly to a shot on goal by a teammate).

Coached by former MLS and USMNT great Michael Bradley – the son of LAFC’s first-ever head coach, Bob Bradley – Red Bull New York has the youngest roster in MLS, led by 18-year-old striker Julian Hall and fellow RBNY academy products Matthew Dos Santos (18) and Adri Mehmeti (17) .

Hall leads RBNY with nine goals and has added five assists. Southern California native Jorge Ruvalcaba is second on the team with seven goals.

Emil Forsberg and Cade Cowell are tied for the team lead with seven assists.

Red Bull New York, which did not compete in Leagues Cup, has won one match since the end of the FIFA World Cup, going 1W-5L-2D in that span.

Last week, Honduran international David Ruíz joined the squad on loan from Inter Miami CF. The midfielder made his RBNY debut Saturday in Seattle as a second half sub, along with defender Devin Padelford, who had just arrived on loan from Minnesota United FC. 

Midfielder Ronald Donkor, who has started 22 of 23 matches this year, will sit out Wednesday night’s match due to yellow card accumulation.

RBNY goalkeeper John McCarthy returns to BMO Stadium, where he achieved cult hero status and won the 2022 MLS Cup Final MVP award after coming on in extra time of that memorable match to help LAFC win the league championship on penalties.

Its attacking shape creates shots on goal in transition the way it did against RSL. Due to injuries and player availability, Dos Santos started three back-line defenders in Utah on Saturday instead of his customary four. One result was a plethora of chances created by LAFC’s attackers on the break. “The advantage that we have when we play with a back three is that we have the three forwards more narrow and closer to each other,” Dos Santos explained. But there’s a cost: “The downfall of that is that we also ask our midfielders to cover a lot of ground.”

If LAFC can manage that balance and allow Son and Bouanga to stay  close and combine as they near the opposing goal, more chances, and three points at home, will be there for the taking.

Horvath comes up big again. Only three MLS goalkeepers have faced more shots on target than the former USMNT star, who plays behind the most inexperienced side in the league (as mentioned above). Every once in a while, however, the 6-foot-4 Horvath stands on his head – Saturday in Seattle being the most recent example. If he does so again on Wednesday night, he’ll need his young attackers to put one or two past Hugo Lloris in order to earn the three points. That doesn’t happen often at BMO Stadium.

Lloris is in the midst of his best MLS season since he joined LAFC in 2024. The legendary Frenchman is tied for the MLS lead in clean sheets (11), and ranks second in save percentage (76.3), trailing only Brian Schwake of Nashville.