LOS ANGELES – Carlos Vela scored a pair of first half goals to help steer Los Angeles FC to a 3-0 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps in the second leg of the 2023 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday night at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California.
The result gives LAFC a 6-0 win on aggregate and a place in the semifinals, while Vela now has eight goals in just nine career SCCL matches.
Vancouver enjoyed a bright start and almost held a lead inside the first five minutes through Deiber Caicedo, whose scuffed shot required an alert save from LAFC GK John McCarthy.
The Whitecaps’ positive early momentum came to a halt though in the 7’ when Denis Bouanga was fouled in the Vancouver penalty area and a minute later Carlos Vela calmly converted the spot kick to hand LAFC a 1-0 lead.
Vancouver didn’t get their heads down and continued to push for a goal, with McCarthy again required to make a big save to deny a stinging Russell Teibert effort in the 17’.
The night belonged to LAFC, though, and Vela notched his second of the night in the 31’ with an exquisite bit of skill by using his chest to receive a pass floated in by Ilie Sanchez and firing into net for a 2-0 LAFC lead.
Vancouver were keen to get a goal back and earn a positive result in the match and Pedro Vite’s well-struck free kick in the 56’ produced another save from McCarthy.
Yet just like in the first half when Vancouver looked like they might score, instead the goal went LAFC’s way and Jose Cifuentes extended the lead to 3-0 in the 65’ with a blazing left-footed shot that hit both posts before rippling the net.
From there, LAFC saw things out with little difficulty to record a second straight clean sheet win and their first semifinal spot since 2020.
