Carlos Vela scores twice as LAFC blanks Vancouver to advance in CONCACAF Champions League

Since LAFC entered MLS six years ago, no team has won more games, gathered more points, scored more goals or captured more titles. It’s been a master class in how to take a franchise from concept to champion.

But there’s still one major piece of hardware missing from the team’s trophy case: the cup that goes to the winner of the region’s most important club competition.

LAFC took a big step toward filling that hole Tuesday, advancing to the Final Four of the CONCACAF Champions League with a 3-0 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps. The result gave LAFC a 6-0 aggregate-goal victory in the two-leg home-and-away playoff and sends the team (7-1-2 in all competition) to the tournament semifinals later this month, where it will meet the winner of the Philadelphia Union-Atlas quarterfinal. The Union leads that series 1-0 heading into Wednesday’s second leg in Guadalajara.

LAFC has gotten this far once before, reaching the CCL final in 2020 before losing to Mexico’s Tigres UANL. Liga MX clubs had won 16 consecutive CCL titles before the Seattle Sounders ended that streak last season, and with the way LAFC is playing, the title just might stay in MLS.

Tuesday’s performance was another dominant one for the Black and Gold, which has outscored its two CCL opponents 10-2 in four games, collecting at least three goals in three of those matches while posting three shutouts.

Goalkeeper John McCarthy made six saves against Vancouver, giving LAFC four consecutive clean sheets. The team has given up just one goal in all competition since March 15 and just five in 10 games all season.

The scores against Vancouver came from Carlos Vela, who had two in the first half, and José Cifuentes, who had the only goal of the second half.

Vela put LAFC in front to stay in the eighth minute when he converted a penalty kick won by Denis Bouanga, who was taken down on the edge of the six-yard box by Vancouver’s Ryan Raposo. Vela stutter-stepped to the spot, then drove a left-footed shot to the top right corner as Thomas Hasal, Vancouver’s backup goalkeeper, went the other way.

Vela doubled the lead in the 31st minute, cutting between defenders Ali Ahmed and Ranko Veselinovic to get on the end of a beautiful pass from Ilie Sánchez before finishing with a left-footed shot from the center of the penalty area. The two goals gave Vela eight in nine CCL matches all time.

And he could have had more, missing a chance at a hat trick early in the second half when, left with an open look deep inside the penalty area, his left-footed shot toward the far post sailed well high and wide of the net.

Not that it mattered much with Cifuentes making it 3-0 in the 65th minute, taking a pass at the top of box, faking to his right to create space, then going the other way and caroming a left-footed shot off the near post and across the goal into the side netting behind the right post. Bouanga got the assist on that score, his fourth of the year to go with 11 goals in all competition.

The Whitecaps, who scored seven times to beat Honduran club Real España in the two-leg CCL quarterfinals, put up little fight against LAFC, putting eight shots on goal but failing to score in the two matches. Coach Vanni Sartini seemed to concede Tuesday’s game before it even started, making eight changes to the lineup he used last weekend. Seven of his starters were under the age of 25 and among those not in the lineup was Simon Becher, the team’s leading scorer, and Julian Gressel, who is tied for third in MLS with four assists.

LAFC returns to league play Sunday when it meets the winless Galaxy (0-3-3) at Dignity Health Sports Park.