Feb 21, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles FC forward Denis Bouanga (99) celebrates his goal past Inter Miami CF goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair (97) during the second half at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-Imagn Images Los Angeles FC will try to continue their perfect start under new head coach Marc Dos Santos on Saturday night when they visit a Houston Dynamo side that was among the busiest in MLS in terms of offseason transactions.
Dos Santos’ Black and Gold opened their regular season with a dominant 3-0 victory over Lionel Messi and Inter Miami on Feb. 21. On either side of that, LAFC (1-0-0, 3 points) defeated Real Espana in the first round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup, 6-1 away in the first leg in Honduras and 1-0 in the return fixture at home on Tuesday.
Denis Bouanga recorded four goals in an assist over those first two matches, and Son Heung-Min added four assists. Yet Dos Santos still decided to play the star duo for the first half of the return leg on Tuesday, despite being virtually assured of advancing.
“Rhythm,” he said. “Sonny didn’t have a perfect preseason, so it’s important that he keeps getting rhythm. And I told both Sonny and Denis this week that I would have them 45 minutes on the field, that at halftime we would make the changes. So they were aware of it.”
The Dynamo (1-0-0, 3 points) opened their regular season with a 2-1 home victory over the Chicago Fire on Feb. 21, coming from behind on a pair of goals from the Brazilian Guilherme Augusto in his MLS debut.
In addition to the 30-year-old former Santos captain, the Dynamo added former LAFC winger Mateusz Bogusz from Cruz Azul and brought back Hector Herrera from Toluca this winter to bolster a squad that finished 12th in Western Conference in 2025.
Herrera, 35, was previously part of the Houston side that reached the 2023 West final. He has yet to see the field in his return.
Houston manager Ben Olsen suggested his new-look side’s second test could be a lot more difficult than the first. It also might be a good measuring stick.
“A team that is as good as, I think, any team in league history in how they transition and the quality they have in the attack,” Olsen said of LAFC. “We’ll have our work cut out for us, but I think it’s a challenge that this group is very excited about.”
The two teams have split the past five meetings, with each side winning twice and playing to one scoreless draw.
–Field Level Media
