LAFC sweeps Vancouver Whitecaps with Bouanga's goal advancing to the Western semifinals

LAFC and Sporting KC are through to the Western Conference semifinals

Defending MLS champion LAFC advanced to the Western Conference semifinals after defeating Vancouver Whitecaps away with a goal by Gabon's Denis Bouanga, and earned the second available ticket after Sporting KC earlier in the day pulled off an upset over St. Louis City SC which was the top seed in the conference.

Although the black & gold did not make a substantial difference as they did at home in the first match, with a 5-2 win, they did win clearly in the course of the match, against a combative opponent.

Although the Canadians played and the LAFC had to make the long trip from Los Angeles to Vancouver could not make this condition count, even though they had more ball possession (57%), and generated 14 shots against eight from the visitors, they could only generate five shots on goal, two less than their rivals.

Meanwhile, LAFC converted a penalty, after a foul by Tristan Blackmon on Mario Gonzalez, which Bouanga converted in the 22nd minute and that was enough for the visitors to survive the game, against an opponent forced to win, who simply could not find their groove.

In the Western Conference, we already have two teams qualified:LAFC, as third seed, and Sporting KC, who advanced as 8th. The series between Seattle Sounders and FC Dallas, which will be defined in a third game next Friday in Seattle, and the series between Real Salt Lake and Houston Dynamo, which will play its second game on Monday and where Houston won the first game, are still to be defined.

In the East, Cincinnati FC, the team with the best record of the season already kicked out the New York Red Bulls this Saturday on penalties and swept their series. Philadelphia Union is 1-0 over