Preview | Alajuelense vs. LAFC – Concacaf Champions Cup

🏟 | Alejandro Morera Soto Stadium – Alajuela, Costa Rica

Advancement within the area’s most prestigious membership competitors is on the road Tuesday night time as LAFC seems to be to increase its run within the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup with a visit to Costa Rica for the second leg of its two-sport sequence in opposition to Alajuelense within the Round of 16.

The two sides are tied on mixture objectives, 1-1. The winner on mixture objectives will transfer on to face Cruz Azul or Monterrey within the CCC Quarterfinals and take one other step towards reaching the CCC Final on May 30. LAFC has competed within the Concacaf Champions Cup Final twice in its transient historical past (2020, 2023) however has but to carry the trophy. This yr’s champion will earn a berth within the FIFA Club World Cup in 2029.

Last Tuesday’s 1-1 draw between the 2 golf equipment at BMO Stadium left LAFC with a frightening activity within the second leg: acquire a outcome 2,700 miles from residence, at Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto in Alajuela, Costa Rica. If LAFC wins Tuesday’s match outright, or attracts by any rating apart from 0-0 or 1-1, then the Black & Gold will advance to the CCC Quarterfinals for the second consecutive yr and the fourth time in membership historical past. A 1-1 tie over 90 minutes will ship the sequence to 2, 15-minute durations of additional time, and probably a penalty shootout. A 0-0 draw or an Alajuelense win would knock LAFC out of the competitors.

“This team, we want to win everything,” midfielder Mathieu Choinière stated after scoring twice in LAFC’s 2-0 win over St. Louis on Tuesday night time. “The mentality of this club is: every competition, every game, we want to win it. So we’re switching already to Costa Rica right now. We want to qualify and go as far as we can and win this trophy.”

LAFC outshot Alajuelense 28-4 in final week’s 1-1 stalemate within the first leg, however may solely put one shot previous Alajuelense goalkeeper Washington Ortega, because the Costa Rican membership sat again and defended for many of the match. The 1-1 outcome went exactly in response to plan for the guests, giving Alajuelense an opportunity to advance on Tuesday on their residence pitch.

In LAFC’s solely earlier go to to Costa Rica, the club defeated Alajuelense 3-0 within the first leg of the 2023 Concacaf Champions League Round of 16 because of a Denis Bouanga hat trick, his first ever for the Black & Gold. LAFC would win that sequence 4-2 on mixture after returning residence to LA and ending a 2-1 defeat.

“Our attitude was good,” LAFC head coach Marc Dos Santos stated after final week’s first-leg draw, “creating probabilities, attempting to get in behind. They defended with lots of numbers. I instructed the fellows, ‘Stay optimistic, [keep your] Head up, it is 1-1, we’re going over there. Last time we performed them right here we misplaced the sport. There’s video games like that… Draws like this, if we play like this, 9 out of ten instances we will win.”

The query headed into Tuesday night time is whether or not Alajuelense will come out of its tactical shell and play extra brazenly, or stay bunkered and depend on sporadic counterattacks. Concacaf groups in Mexico and Central America—and the US and Canada for that matter—usually don’t prefer to play conservatively in entrance of their residence followers, if just for pleasure’s sake.

Last week, LAFC recorded the primary 13 photographs of the sport as Alajuelense positioned nearly each participant inside their very own 18-yard field to congest the house and depend on Ortega, their Man of the Match goalkeeper, to make the occasional save. “That’s what teams do and that’s gonna be a challenge,” Dos Santos said. “But they do that because we’re good. It’s a credit to our team.”

If Alajuelense does advance from its personal half and play extra vertically, there shall be more room behind its again line for LAFC forwards Denis Bouanga, Son Heung-Min, and others, to assault. Bouanga’s equalizer in final week’s first leg was his fourth purpose of the 2026 Champions Cup, making him the highest scorer within the competitors this yr. He has 14 all-time objectives in Concacaf play, together with 4 in opposition to Alajuelense.

“I think the group knows what it’s going to take,” LAFC midfielder Ryan Raposo stated. “It’s going to be a hostile environment, loud environment, they obviously have hope from the first leg. We need to go out there, be fearless, and be a mature team. It may not happen in the first five minutes, the goal might happen in the 90th, and we have to be prepared for that.”

LAFC ahead Nathan Ordaz, who additionally performs for El Salvador’s nationwide staff, stated: “It’s a whole different experience playing against a Costa Rican team. They defend a little bit different. The tactics were definitely different… Yeah, it reminds me of those games with El Salvador. Those Central American countries are just so aggressive, and they like to hit you.”

Defenders Eddie Segura, Ryan Porteous, and Nkosi Tafari preserve enjoying lights out. LAFC has solely conceded two objectives thus far in 2026 on its approach to a 6W-0L-1D report in all competitions, and these three are among the many important the explanation why. If LAFC can maintain Alajuelense scoreless, because it has performed with 5 of seven opponents this yr, and may discover the online not less than eleven, the Black & Gold will transfer on to the Quarterfinals.

It parks the bus and will get one other large sport from Ortega in purpose. Those techniques labored to perfection final Tuesday in LA. Duplicating that technique, and the outcome, shall be a unique matter in Alajuela, nonetheless, particularly if LAFC finds house to get out and run.