Denis Bouanga scored on a shot from outside of the penalty area in the 79th minute and Los Angeles FC salvaged a 1-1 draw against the visiting Portland Timbers on Saturday.
Bouanga’s goal was his team-leading 11th of the season and was a breakthrough after LAFC (10-7-5, 35 points) absorbed 1-0 defeats in each of its past two matches. LAFC had a 34-9 advantage on shots to pull out a point with the draw.
Hugo Lloris made one save for LAFC, who maintained their third-place spot in the Western Conference.
David Da Costa scored a fourth-minute goal for the Timbers (8-9-4, 28 points), who moved above the playoff line and into ninth place in the Western Conference with a 3-1 victory over San Diego FC on Wednesday.
James Pantemis had 10 saves as Portland secured a road point and continued a productive month with a 4-2-1 record in August across all competitions.
Despite the late score, LAFC’s offensive issues continued. They have not scored more than one goal in any of their seven matches across all competitions this month.
The Timbers got on the scoreboard early when forward Kristoffer Velde dribbled through traffic and sent a ball forward into the box ahead of De Costa, who was unmarked when he scored past Lloris for his third tally of the season.
LAFC had a solid scoring chance four minutes later when Mathieu Choiniere’s shot from close range was saved by Pantemis and bounced out of play off the crossbar.
LAFC finally converted late in the match when Bouanga received the ball near the left sideline from Jude Terry, dribbled between two defenders, found some space just beyond the left edge of the box and rocketed a shot into the top right corner of the goal.
The Timbers were reduced to 10 men in the third minute of second-half stoppage time when Vincent Janssen received his second yellow card.
LAFC’s Timothy Tillman departed in the 20th minute with an apparent right leg injury.
–Field Level Media
