LAFC Plays to a 1-1 Draw with Real Salt Lake

July 18, 2024 – Major League Soccer (MLS)
Los Angeles FC News Release

The Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) played to a 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake on Wednesday night at BMO Stadium. Playing his first game back with LAFC since helping Uruguay reach the semifinals of Copa América, Cristian Olivera scored the only goal of the game for LAFC.

LAFC is now 13-5-5 on the season for 44 points, leaving the club in second place in the Western Conference with one game left to play before the start of Leagues Cup on July 26.

The home side found themselves ahead after just five minutes thanks to a goal from Olivera. LAFC midfielder Eduard Atuesta played a long ball forward from inside his own half of the field into the path of Olivera. Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Zac MacMath raced out of his goal and attempted to play the ball, but Olivera was able to touch it around him and curl a shot into the open net from just outside the box, making the score 1-0.

RSL equalized in the 33rd minute when Brayan Vera struck a left-footed free kick that deflected off of Ilie Sánchez before finding the corner of the net to tie the score at 1-1.

LAFC is back in action on Saturday, July 20, when the club travels north to face the Seattle Sounders at 7:30 p.m. PT (MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, 710 AM ESPN LA and 980 AM La Mera Mera.)

QUOTES:

Postgame press conference transcripts are available here: LINK.

NEWS & NOTES

With the draw, LAFC is now 9-1-3 at home in the league this season.

LAFC has 44 points on the season and is currently fourth in the race for the Supporters’ Shield behind Inter Miami (50), FC Cincinnati (48) and the LA Galaxy (46).

This was the 18th all-time meeting between LAFC and Real Salt Lake, and the first to end in a draw. LAFC is now 13-4-1 against RSL since coming into MLS in 2018.

Cristian Olivera scored his fifth regular-season goal of the year and eighth in all competitions.

Olivera is now alone in third place on the team in scoring in both the league and all competitions.

Timothy Tillman returned to the starting lineup for LAFC after missing Saturday’s loss to Columbus while serving a suspension for yellow-card accumulation. However, he was forced to exit the game in the 17th minute with an injury.

Kei Kamara was called upon to replace Tillman for the 435th regular-season appearance of his MLS career. Kamara currently ranks fifth in league history for the most games played and fourth amongst non-goalkeepers. If he plays two more games this season, he will move into a tie for…