LAFC overcomes a shaky start to beat Vancouver in their MLS Cup playoff opener

No MLS coach has won more regular-season games in the last three years than LAFC's Steve Cherundolo. But that was actually just a supporting act, an appetizer. Because where Cherundolo and his team shine most is in the playoffs, which they opened again on Sunday with a methodical 2-1 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps in front of a sellout crowd of 22,298 at BMO Stadium.

With the win thanks to goals from Denis Bouanga and Cristian Olivera, LAFC enters Game 2 of next weekend's best-of-three playoffs needing a win to advance to the Western Conference semifinals. If Vancouver wins, the series returns to BMO Stadium for the third and deciding game on November 8th.

Since taking over at LAFC, Cherundolo has lost just once in nine postseason games, winning one MLS Cup and losing by one goal in another. If he takes his team back to the championship game again this fall, he would become just the third man in league history to lead his team to the Finals in three consecutive seasons.

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However, the road there is full of potential potholes, some of which Cherundolo's team avoided on Sunday.

LAFC got off to a rocky start and Vancouver missed a golden chance to take the lead in the seventh minute when Stuart Armstrong stormed into the penalty area alone with only LAFC keeper Hugo Lloris to beat. And he beat it cleanly, but his right-footed shot bounced off the left post and over the front of the goal without crossing the line.

Seven minutes later, Pedro Vite gave the home team another scare, firing a low right-footed shot inches past the far post. If either had gotten in, it could have spelled trouble for LAFC, who won just once in 11 regular-season games when they conceded the first goal.

But all that was moot when video replay convinced referee Jair Marrufo that Vancouver defender Tristan Blackmon had blocked Mateusz Bogusz's shot with his arm, leading to a penalty that Bouanga converted to give LAFC a 1-0 lead . The 30th-minute goal was Bouanga's 21st of the season and his league-best eighth penalty.

Vancouver nearly equaled that mark in stoppage time when Ryan Gauld curled a left-footed free kick off the crossbar from 20 yards out and hit the goalpost in a first half that ended with LAFC leading, making more saves than Lloris bestowed. And that brought two more stats into play: LAFC started MLS play Sunday 15-1-0 after leading after 45 minutes, and 6-1-2 in its last nine games against Vancouver, including a two-game win in the first round of last season's playoffs.

None of these trends would be reversed in a second half in which LAFC dominated, doubling their lead twelve minutes after the break at the end of a passing sequence in which Ryan Hollingshead and Bogusz moved the ball around the penalty area before finding Olivera, who came from the right Wing stormed in. Olivera then fired a hard right-footed shot that was deflected into the roof of the net by Whitecaps keeper Yohei Takaoka.

Vancouver added some drama in the final seconds when Gauld finally scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time, making the final result more respectable. This result came nine minutes after Carlos Vela, the final member of the original LAFC squad, received a huge ovation when he came on for Bouanga. Vela's last appearance came in the MLS Cup final in December.

This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.