At this point, any objective observer would have to conclude that the beginning of Marc Dos Santos\u2019 tenure as the third head coach in LAFC history has been, for lack of a better word, a success.<\/p>\n
On the heels of Tuesday\u2019s thrilling 2-1 result over Alajuelense in Costa Rica, which moved the Black & Gold into the Concacaf Champions Cup Quarterfinals, LAFC remains unbeaten so far in 2026, with a record of 7W-0L-1D in all competitions\u2014 3W-0L-1D in Champions Cup and 4W-0L-0D in MLS.<\/p>\n
LAFC has trailed for a total of 59 minutes out of a possible 720 this year\u2014 playing from behind during a 12-minute span at home against Alajuelense and for 47 minutes in the second leg earlier this week. But this numerical dominance is only part of the story.<\/p>\n
Of Dos Santos\u2019 influence on the team, forward Nathan Ordaz said: \u201cHe\u2019s been great. He has set the team up how he wants to play and I think we’re playing like that. We’re doing it well. We’re dominating teams. We’re moving them around, we’re taking control of games. That’s what we set out to do. That’s what we were working on all preseason.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n NOTABLE FIRSTS<\/p>\n
LAFC is the only club in MLS to open this season with four consecutive league wins, all by shutout. Over LAFC\u2019s nine-year history, this is the first Black & Gold team to open a season with four consecutive regular-season wins.\u00a0And no other LAFC team\u00a0has started a season unbeaten over eight matches across all competitions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This 2026 LAFC side is just the fourth team in\u00a0MLS history\u00a0to record a shutout in each of its first four games (St. Louis 2025, Vancouver 2012, New York Red Bulls 2007).<\/p>\n
LAFC\u2019S BEST STARTS \u2013 ALL COMPS<\/p>\n
2026<\/p>\n
7W-0L-1D<\/p>\n
2019<\/p>\n
6W-1L-1D<\/p>\n
2022<\/p>\n
6W-1L-1D<\/p>\n
2023<\/p>\n
5W-0L-3D<\/p>\n
\n TRAVEL AGENTS<\/p>\n
LAFC\u2019s historic start in 2026 includes its first win in Houston since 2019, and two victories overseas, in difficult environs, in Concacaf Champions Cup play. The harsh news for LAFC\u2019s opponents going forward is that LAFC\u2019s courageous 3-2 aggregate goals victory over a brave and physical Alajuelense side only served to strengthen the team. \u201cThis was hard,\u201d Dos Santos said after the final whistle in Alajuela. \u201cWe are going to be better in the future because we played in this tie.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Black & Gold\u2019s Concacaf journey rolls on, with two legs against Mexican giants Cruz Azul looming ahead in the Quarterfinals in mid-April. There is ample reason for optimism when LAFC travels to Mexico:\u00a0LAFC has scored in nine consecutive CCC away matches, tying the longest such streak by an MLS club in the modern era (D.C. United, 2009\u20132015).<\/p>\n
\n BALANCED ATTACK<\/p>\n
Most of the 18 goals LAFC has scored in all competitions so far have flowed through DP forward Son Heung-Min, who has seven assists.<\/p>\n
In four MLS appearances, the Korean superstar has already equaled his regular-season assist total from last year\u2014three\u2014which he achieved over 10 appearances in ’25. Son\u2019s three assists in \u201926 are tied for second place in MLS. His four assists in CCC play are second-most in that competition, as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thirteen-year MLS veteran Mark Delgado, coming off a career-high nine assists last year in league play, has posted three assists in all competitions this year, including two in the series-clinching win over Alajuelense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Son and Delgado are also among LAFC\u2019s nine different goal scorers so far this year.<\/p>\n
GOALS SCORED \u2013 LAFC (2026)<\/p>\n
PLAYER<\/p>\n
MLS<\/p>\n
CCC<\/p>\n
TOTAL<\/p>\n
Bouanga<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
4<\/p>\n
5<\/p>\n
Mart\u00cdnez<\/p>\n
2<\/p>\n
2<\/p>\n
4<\/p>\n
Choini\u00e8re<\/p>\n
2<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
2<\/p>\n
Ordaz<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
2<\/p>\n
Son<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
Delgado<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
Tillman<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
Eust\u00e1quio<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
Tafari<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
1<\/p>\n
In just eight appearances and 393 minutes, Mart\u00ednez (below), the 20-year-old prodigy from Venezuela, has already tallied four goals in 2026, two shy of the career-high six he scored last year in 37 appearances (1,694 minutes).<\/p>\n
\u201cI love Sonny, I love Denis,\u201d Dos Santos said of top two goal scorers in 2025. \u201cThese players are not only my players. I care about them outside the field, in their life and all that. But for me as a coach, my concern is the team. How do we win, and how do we win collectively? When we have different guys scoring and we’re not relying only on one or two, it helps the team. Just imagine if we’re relying on one or two guys and one goes to the national team, the other, knock on wood, gets injured, and now what do we do?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo as a coach I have to think about the team, the team, the team. That’s the important part for me, and the guys that are maybe a little bit dry in the scoring sheet, this is going to unlock and soon they’re going to start scoring again. This is how the game goes, it’s by waves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ordaz, the 22-year-old LAFC Academy product who found the net eight times in his breakout year in \u201925, said: \u201cI think it’s a lot easier for everybody to get in that final third with our play style now. The whole team pushes up, the whole team is as one, attacking. So there’s a lot more opportunity for everybody to play their role, to score \u2026 That just shows that we’re just setting the team up to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
The data show that LAFC gets more dangerous as the game goes on, scoring 12 of its 18 goals after halftime:<\/p>\n
Opponents wary of LAFC\u2019s vaunted counterattack have often retreated into a low defensive block this year. LAFC has adjusted, combining cleverly in the penalty area to create 23 shots on target (5th-most in MLS), and when that didn\u2019t work scoring five straight goals from outside the box. No MLS team has scored five straight from distance since 2010.<\/p>\n
\n GLOVE LOVE<\/p>\n
Headed into this year Hugo Lloris was already LAFC\u2019s all-time leader in appearances in goal, clean sheets, and wins. Last year the World Cup champion became one of only two MLS goalkeepers to register at least 12 clean sheets in both 2024 and 2025 (Kahlina, CLT).\u00a0With four clean sheets so far, he is already 33 percent of the way there in 2026. And Lloris currently leads MLS in save percentage, stopping each of the 15 shots he has faced.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n ODDS & ENDS<\/p>\n
LAFC has had a player make the\u00a0MLS\u00a0Team of the Matchday\u00a0in each of the first four weeks (including Mart\u00ednez, who was named to the bench in Matchday 3). A\u00a0different LAFC player has been selected on each occasion.<\/p>\n
MLS TEAM OF THE MATCHDAY \u2013 2026<\/p>\n
Matchday 1\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bouanga, Eust\u00e1quio, Dos Santos (coach)<\/p>\n
Matchday 2<\/p>\n
Delgado<\/p>\n
Matchday 3<\/p>\n
Mart\u00ednez (bench)<\/p>\n
Matchday 4<\/p>\n
Choini\u00e8re<\/p>\n
Vancouver is the only other team to have players voted into the\u00a0Team of the Matchday all four weeks.<\/p>\n
LAFC\u2019s longest unbeaten streak, all-time, is 13 matches across all competitions, from May 8, 2024, to July 10, 2024. The team went 12W-0L-1D during that run, including 3W-0L-0D in U.S. Open Cup play on its way to the 2024 Open Cup title.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Including last year\u2019s playoffs, LAFC has lost only three matches since Son arrived last August, going 15W-3L-4D in that span, with the draw (and ensuing PK shootout) against Vancouver in last year\u2019s MLS playoffs counting as a loss.<\/p>\n
New U22 midfielder Amin Boudri (above) said recently that his family in Stockholm, Sweden, has loved watching his early success at LAFC\u2014as well as his club\u2019s success\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThey’re really enjoying it,\u201d Boudri said with a laugh. \u201cThe only problem is they have to watch at six in the morning, five in the morning.\u201d <\/p>\n
Boudri is among a handful of young contributors who are thriving in extended minutes despite their relative inexperience.\u00a0\u201cEven last year we had quite a few young players who were playing with me and David [Mart\u00ednez] already here, so I think it’s pretty normal,\u201d said Ordaz, 22. \u201cWe have Artem [Smoliakov, age 22] who’s a left back, also a young guy. They put a lot of trust in us and we just have to prove them right. David’s been killing it lately. That’s amazing for us and for him as well. It just shows that you can put trust in us younger guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
LAFC will be back in action on Saturday, March 21, when it visits Austin FC at Q2 Stadium at 5:45 p.m. PT. That game will be broadcast live on FOX.<\/p>\n
Following the FIFA international break, LAFC returns to BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday, April 4, when Orlando City visits. All MLS matches are broadcast live on Apple TV, with local radio coverage on ESPN LA 710 AM, the ESPN LA app, KFWB La Mera Mera 980 AM (Spanish), and K-Radio 1230 AM (Korean).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At this point, any objective observer would have to conclude that the beginning of Marc Dos Santos\u2019 tenure…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348725,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[170026,170027,170025,100051,85,46,170024,43,158927,105],"class_list":["post-348724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-amin-boudri","tag-david-martinez","tag-denis-bouanga","tag-hugo-lloris","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-nathan-ordaz","tag-news","tag-son-heung-min","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348724"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348724\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}