LAFC edges Chivas in PK shootout to win Leagues Cup opener

LOS ANGELES — Prior to last weekend, the Los Angeles Football Club was a perfect 14-0-0 this season when it grabbed the lead first.

But on Saturday in Vancouver, LAFC finally dropped points in that situation. And five days later, in different circumstances, it happened again.

Hosting Chivas de Guadalajara for the opening match of Phase One of the Leagues Cup, LAFC did not hold the lead after Denis Bouanga put his team on the scoreboard in the 38th minute.

Chivas forward Roberto Alvarado, who delivered three assists in five starts for Mexico during the recent World Cup, responded in the 42nd minute.

Tied 1-1 at the end of regulation, the match headed to a penalty shootout.

LAFC walked away with two points when 17-year-old Jude Terry stepped up to convert the decisive kick, sealing the shootout 5-4.

“In a tournament like this where every point matters I think it’s important for me to step up and help the team in any way I can,” Terry said. “Tonight I did it.”

“I’ve been kicking penalty kicks since I was a little kid,” said the midfielder, who entered for Timothy Tillman with a quarter hour remaining in the match. “Nothing really changes. Now there’s a bit of fans behind the goal, so I just had to step up and hit the ball and see where it went.”

Chivas, which has never advanced to the Leagues Cup knockout stage, earned a point for its effort.

Though the match took place at BMO Stadium, the atmosphere was heavily in Guadalajara’s favor. Among Mexico’s most successful and popular clubs, Chivas appeared to have at worst a 70/30 supporter advantage in the stands, which held an announced crowd of 22,132.

LAFC’s support came primarily from the north end, where the raucous 3252 supporter group was uncharacteristically drowned out for much of the evening.

“We have the 3252,” LAFC head coach Marc Dos Santos said. “That is the heart of the club. You take that away, man, maybe the environment in the stadium dies a lot. It’s boom, boom, like a heart. We need to grow more outside the 3252, but the fan base has grown a lot throughout the years of LAFC. Chivas is a club with many more years of history. Mexico is a country with much more culture in the game. We still have steps to do in North America. But we felt at home today.”

Bouanga’s goal momentarily quieted Chivas fans who showed up in droves wearing the 120-year-old club’s red-and-white striped jersey.

Starting in place of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, Thomas Hasal delivered a beautiful outlet to Tillman at the Chivas end of the field. The ball moved to David Martínez, and the young forward patiently waited as Bouanga entered the box from behind the play.

Bouanga’s first-time strike off Martínez’s cross was his 14th Leagues Cup goal, tying him with Lionel Messi for the top spot all-time.

“The goal is a golazo from us,” Dos Santos said.

Whatever noise the 3252 mustered in the aftermath of Bouanga’s finish paled in comparison to the Chivas supporters following Alvarado’s equalizer, which came when the forward bolted through the middle of the field unmarked and hit a rolling ball with his left foot low inside the far post.

“We didn’t shift well so we left a big gap in the middle,” Dos Santos said. “But look, it was a great show for the fans. Good attitude from our guys. And then winning in penalties. This extra point can be important.”

Alvarado was one of four Chivas starters on Wednesday who was selected for the Mexican national team during the World Cup. joining No. 1 goalkeeper Jose Rangel, midfielder and Chivas captain Luis Romo, and forward Armando Gonzalez.

A fifth Mexican national team player, midfielder Brian Gutierrez, replaced former Galaxy prospect Efrain Alvarez with 20 minutes remaining in the match.

A year to the day after landing in Los Angeles after signing with LAFC, red-hot Son Heung-min made his Leagues Cup debut as part of a first-choice lineup, save for Lloris. He played 86 minutes. The contest was Son’s first match without a goal since returning from the World Cup break.

In Lloris’ place, Hasal made seven saves – not including a denial of Romo’s penalty, which set up Terry’s most prominent moment so far with LAFC.

“I was watching penalties all morning trying to get an inkling, get a feeling, but at that moment in time it was more a feeling,” Hasal said of his stop. “He was staring at me, I was staring at him, just to see who would flinch first.”

That gave Terry a chance to score the decisive penalty.

“When I saw him stop that I knew it was my moment,” Terry said.

Hasal, who started all three Leagues Cup games in 2025, benefited from Chivas hitting the crossbar in the 70th minute and made the most of another strong defensive effort from LAFC, which is unbeaten in its last six games across all competitions.

Center back Nkosi Tafari stood tall on the backline starting alongside Ryan Porteous. Tafari helped his goalkeeper in the 87th minute by clearing a rebound from the 6-yard box as a Chivas player was positioned to tap it in for a likely game-winner.

At the other end, Rangel stopped four shots. The Chivas goalkeeper also broke up a dangerous moment well outside the box after halftime as Son and Bouanga appeared poised to pounce.

For LAFC, the round-robin portion of the 36-team MLS vs. Liga MX tournament continues Saturday when top-ranked Toluca FC, which eliminated the Black & Gold from the CONCACAF Champions Cup in May prior to winning the whole thing, visits BMO Stadium. Toluca earned three points on Wednesday, defeating the Seattle Sounders, 3-0, in Mexico.