Seattle Sounders fall 3-0 to LAFC on Tuesday night

The LAFC defeated the Seattle Sounders 3-0 on Tuesday night at the Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles.

Brian Rodríguez opened the LAFC in the 21st minute with a one-time finish through the legs of Stefan Frei.

Latif Blessing doubled the hosts’ lead in the third minute of stoppage time when he shot a deflected cross into the net.

The Sounders almost halved the deficit right after the final whistle of the second half when Nouhou rattled the bar with a header. Fredy Montero almost scored himself a minute later when his header was saved by Jamal Blackman.

The LAFC expanded to 3-0 in the 51st minute when Cristian Arango’s long-range shot was deflected and passed Frei.

Sometimes you just have to throw a match as quickly as possible and move on to the next. It’s hard to take into account Tuesday night’s result as João Paulo has been banned for yellow card accumulation and sometimes it just isn’t your evening.

A bright spot for the Sounders was the return of captain Nicolás Lodeiro, who came on in the 67th minute for his first appearance since September 11th. He has only played eight games throughout the year while battling injuries.

The Sounders will play their last regular season home game next Monday evening when they greet the LA Galaxy at Lumen Field (7 p.m. PT; Twitter, FOX 13+, Prime Video, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360 AM | TICKETS). Seattle will then travel to British Columbia to take on Cascadia’s rivals Vancouver Whitecaps on Decision Day (3 p.m. PT; FOX 13+, KUNS, Prime Video, 950 KJR AM, El Rey 1360 AM).