Ebobisse’s goal gives LAFC a victory in season opener

LAFC

LAFC’s Denis Bouanga, left, battles for position with Minnesota’s Bongokuhle Hlongwane during the second half of Saturday’s season opener at BMO Stadium. LAFC won 1-0 on a goal by newcomer Jeremy Ebobisse. PHOTO BY RAUL ROMERO JR.

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By Josh Gross

Correspondent

LOS ANGELES — Jeremy Ebobisse’s final touch during Saturday’s Major League Soccer opening match of the season will be worth remembering for several reasons.

To begin with, the first-time strike off Ebobisse’s left foot was the difference maker for the Los Angeles Football Club, which stayed perfect in season openers following a 1-0 victory over Minnesota United FC at BMO Stadium.

Featured in LAFC’s starting lineup ahead of Olivier Giroud for the afternoon kickoff in front of announced crowd of 22,310, Ebobisse, a 28-year-old free agent signing in December, capitalized on a simple layoff from forward Nathan Ordaz while Giroud waited for a dead-ball whistle to replace his fellow No. 9 on the field.

From the sideline Giroud watched as Ebobisse’s debut goal for the Black & Gold hummed past Minnesota goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair in the 78th minute, giving LAFC (1-0-0, 3 points) a reason to celebrate after an otherwise slog of a game that saw the Loons operate in a low block and look for counterattacks.

“The beautiful part in that team movement was that everyone made the right decision,” Ebobisse said of his breakthrough game-winner. “Everyone acted decisively.”

Ordaz, the 21-year-old Van Nuys-born homegrown, entered the match as a substitute a few moments earlier, replacing 19-year-old Venezuelan David Martínez on the right wing.

On the goal, Ordaz moved from LAFC’s side of the field into the attacking zone and was well positioned in the box when back-to-back 20-goal scorer Denis Bouanga looked his way after the Frenchman’s path to goal was shut down by a pair of defenders. Ordaz received the ball, turned and identified Ebobisse standing unguarded 18 yards out, where the eight-year MLS veteran netted his 61st regular season goal.

“Nate had a really good layoff with the right weight of the pass,” Ebobisse said. “From my perspective, seeing him run through the middle of the field and occupy that space I didn’t want to double down on that. So I wanted to let the play develop and see where it ended up. If Denis had gotten a cross to the back post I might’ve been a touch late but I was betting that was going to come inside and look for a cutback. It happened to go to Nate first. I trusted that he would make the pass to me.”

The connection, one of several that continue to develop in the attack coming off a busy offseason and five-week preseason, gave LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo exactly what he needed from whomever he puts in that spot.

“It’s good for a new attacker to arrive and score,” said Bouanga, who operated wide on the wings and was mostly bottled up throughout the match. “It’s good for his confidence. It’s good for our confidence, all the players. It’s going to give us the confidence to win more games.”

To successfully do that, LAFC must offset the production lost after the departure of several major contributors from 2024, including Mateusz Bogusz, Cristian Olivera and Kei Kamara.

“We will need everyone to be in a good frame of mind and at his best to achieve our goals,” Cherundolo said. “That is the message I try to relay into the group every single day, That’s just the way it is here. We have a lot of games.”

Last Tuesday the 2025 campaign got underway outside Denver for the CONCACAF Champions Cup and it was Giroud’s turn. The 38-year-old striker is expected to get the assignment again this coming Tuesday, when LAFC attempts to overcome a 2-1 deficit and advance against the Colorado Rapids.

Ebobisse, who scored seven times against LAFC since 2018, believes “with the depth and the amount of experience that we have across this locker room, as soon as we get clicking and understanding each other’s tendencies more and more, there’s quite a reason to believe we’ll score quite a bit of goals.”

Minnesota (0-1-0, 0 points) took better chances than LAFC in the first half, yet the visitors managed just two shots on goal against Hugo Lloris — none until the 92nd minute. The visitor’s best chances came in the first quarter hour.

Forward Tanitoluwa Oluwaseyi was alone deep in the LAFC box and pushed his shot wide. A short time later his partner in a two-man starting attack, Kelvin Yeboah, snagged a misdirected pass from LAFC midfielder Timothy Tillman and sauntered to the top of the box before banging a shot off a post.

Meanwhile, LAFC took 13 shots, six on target, while keeping the ball to the tune of 62% possession.

“Having control and still pushing to score and not concede is difficult,” Cherundolo said, “and it shows maturity at this stage of the season, which I’m very happy about.”