LAFC had no margin for error heading into its regular-season finale Saturday.
To finish atop the Western Conference table, it needed to beat the San José Earthquakes, needed the Galaxy to lose in Houston and needed to overcome a two-score deficit to the Galaxy in goal differential.
It got all three, thanks to an improbable finish in Houston, where Daniel Steres scored for the Dynamo 11 minutes into stoppage time to take the title away from the Galaxy and give it to LAFC.
“Unbelievable, unbelievable,” said LAFC defender Ryan Hollingshead, holding an LAFC championship hat from 2022, his first year with the team. “For it to happen in that manner? What a story.”
LAFC will open the postseason next week, facing the winner of a wild-card game between the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps in a best-of-three series. LAFC will play the first three rounds of the postseason at home, where it has the best record in MLS since entering the league in 2018.
But whatever drama the playoffs have in store will have trouble matching what happened Saturday. When LAFC defender Marlon came off the bench to score on a header in the first minute of stoppage time at BMO Stadium, sealing a 3-1 win over the Quakes, it left LAFC (19-8-7) and the Galaxy even on points and wins atop the conference table and gave the black and gold a one-score edge in differential, the tiebreaker.
While LAFC was celebrating in Los Angeles, the Galaxy’s Gabriel Pec scored on a penalty kick in stoppage time in Houston, seemingly setting up the Galaxy to secure a draw and the point it needed to secure the title and home-field advantage in the conference playoffs.
That, too, was only temporary because the Galaxy’s title was snatched away seconds later when Steres, a former Galaxy defender, scored on a header on the last meaningful touch of the game, giving the Dynamo a 2-1 win and sending the title back to LAFC.
Hollingshead was on the field celebrating the win with his teammates, but unaware of the situation in Houston — until he heard a roar from the fans, who were watching the Galaxy game on their phones.
“The whole stadium went crazy,” he said. “That’s how I knew.”
The first two LAFC goals came 11 minutes apart in the second half, the first from Denis Bouanga to tie the score in the 64th and the second from Eduard Atuesta to put his team ahead.
It was a long climb back in a short time for LAFC, which fell behind when Jackson Yueill’s first goal of the season gave San José a 1-0 halftime lead. Defender Paul Marie set up the goal, pushing the ball into the box for Yueill, who reached out his right foot to control it, eluded LAFC’s Eddie Segura, then beat keeper Hugo Lloris cleanly from just outside the six-yard box.
Olivier Giroud appeared to tie the score for LAFC eight minutes later, rounding Quakes keeper Daniel and putting a right-footed shot into an empty net. But the LAFC striker was offside and assistant referee Felisha Mariscal was quick to raise her flag, disallowing the goal.
The scoreless first half against the league’s most porous defense triggered a harsh halftime speech from LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo, whose team had one shot on goal in the first 45 minutes.
“There were some words for sure,” he said. “Inspirational? Probably not. Emotional? Very much.”
Cherundolo, who has taken LAFC to the regular-season conference title twice, wanted his team to play with more urgency. And in the second half it did, with Bouanga and Atuesta converting.
The sequence on Bouanga’s goal began with midfielder Timothy Tillman bending a cross toward Giroud in the center of the box. San José defender Rodrigues headed the ball away but it fell at Bouanga’s feet near the right edge of the penalty area and he did the rest, lining a right-footed shot into the back of the net for his 20th goal of the season.
The goal was the 76th the Quakes have conceded this season, most in MLS history. But it wouldn’t be the last with Atuesta putting LAFC ahead to stay, scoring from almost the same spot seconds after coming off the bench.
The goal, Atuesta’s second since March 30, gave him a career-high four for the season and set the stage for the stoppage-time fireworks, where Marlon’s header gave LAFC the conference title.
“To be honest, this was pretty cool,” Cherundolo said.
With its 25th loss of the season, San José matches the 1999 MetroStars for most losses in an MLS season.