Unbeaten in a club-best eight consecutive games to open the season, the Los Angeles Football Club is poised to enter the international break in great spirits if it puts together another quality performance Saturday.

On the heels of a 2-1 (3-2 aggregate) victory in Costa Rica at LD Alajuelense that sent LAFC into the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinal round, the Black & Gold traveled directly to Austin, Texas, to close a challenging 33-day stretch.

With the Black & Gold eyeing an MLS-record fifth consecutive shutout win to start the season, the first month and change could not have gone any better had head coach Marc Dos Santos mapped out an ideal scenario to begin his tenure in place of Steve Cherundolo.

Taking a weeklong road trip leading into the FIFA window from March 23-31, Dos Santos said this moment affirmed that his group enjoys each other’s company.

Advancing in the CONCACAF Champions Cup on Tuesday certainly helped the mood.

The continental tournament resumes at BMO Stadium on April 7 against Mexican giant Cruz Azul, with the second leg at the reigning CONCACAF champions’ temporary home in Puebla on April 14.

Victorious in seven of eight matches prior to playing Austin FC (1-2-1, 4 points) this weekend at Q2 Stadium, LAFC (4-0-0, 12 points) is set up to dominate opponents thanks to Dos Santos, forward Nathan Ordaz said.

“We’re moving them around, we’re taking control of games,” said Ordaz, who scored the equalizer Tuesday at Alajuelense. “That’s what we set out to do. That’s what we were working on all preseason.”

Preparation preceded progress and LAFC’s approach so far has produced more goal scorers than games played. All told, nine LAFC players, including four with multiple goals, have seen their names listed on the scoresheet.

Denis Bouanga leads with five, but only two have come after the season opener in Honduras. David Martínez’s incredible game-winning strike in Costa Rica gave him four. A pair from midfielder Mathieu Choiniere secured victory in LAFC’s last MLS contest. And Ordaz has one apiece in CCC and MLS.

With Son Heung-min scoring once as he operates as a facilitator – the 33-year-old South Korean star has seven assists in all competitions – Nkosi Tafari, Timothy Tillman, Mark Delgado and Stephen Eustáquio picked up the slack.

“My focus – me and the staff – was to build a team with a big ‘T,’” Dos Santos said Friday. “And when you’re a team, you’re going to have seasons inside the season, where a player is going to be the protagonist, two players maybe, but what we want the majority of the time is the team above all and a lot of different players participating. We don’t know who is going to score. We don’t know where the goals are going to come from, and I think that’s pretty positive.”

LAFC’s attacking depth offset the absences of Jeremy Ebobisse and Jacob Shaffelburg since the start of the year. When the MLS calendar resumes April 4 at home against Orlando, Dos Santos plans on both forwards being available.

The coach hopes the same is true for Eustáquio, who took a knock to his leg colliding with referee Drew Fischer on March 1. The calming midfield presence missed the last three games with a dead leg following a setback in rehab that cost him a call-up to the Canadian national team this window.

Reinforcing a stout defensive unit, center back Aaron Long, who underwent knee surgery last July, is likely to be reintegrated into team training by the end of the month.

“Right now before the break, we have to focus on the run we’re having,” Dos Santos said. “Can we continue? Can we win five in a row and keep pushing? That’s our objective as a group.”

LAFC at AUSTIN FC

When: 5:45 pm. PT Saturday

Where: Q2 Stadium, Austin, Texas

TV/Radio: FOX (Ch. 11), Apple TV/710 AM, 980 AM, 1230 AM, ESPN LA App, SiriusXM FC 157