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LOS ANGELES, Calif. — During their last match of a three-game homestand, Los Angeles Football Club defeated the Colorado Rapids 2-0 on Sunday night in front of an announced crowd of 22,000 at Banc of California Stadium.  It was the club’s second consecutive 2-0 victory after defeating Real Salt Lake by the same scoreline four days ago. 

LAFC and Colorado played in Southern California earlier this week, with Colorado earning a 2-2 draw with the LA Galaxy Tuesday night and LAFC hosting Real Salt Lake Wednesday. Neither team made changes to its starting lineup from the midweek matchups for Sunday night’s contest. 

The first half was a calm half, with both sides working strategically to learn about their opponent in their first meeting. LAFC maintained the possession through most of the first half, but throughout the match the game felt fairly balanced between the two sides. 

Colorado was forced to make a substitution early on, as Sam Nicholson had to leave the match due to injury. He was replaced by Niki Jackson in the 28th minute of play, who ended up with three shots, including one shot on goal. 

Neither side could break through in the first half, and both sides headed to the locker rooms after a scoreless first half.

LAFC midfielder Lee Nguyen opened the game’s scoring in the 49th minute with an impressive solo effort within the 18-yard box. He brought down and controlled a bouncing ball in the box and turned to fire a shot past Colorado goalkeeper Tim Howard, putting LAFC ahead 1-0.

In the 80th minute, Diego Rossi, who led his team in shots for this match, had a goal of his own after dribbling past Colorado defenders and slotting the ball past Tim Howard. The play started off a clean backheel flick from Adama Diomande, who was earning his first minutes for LAFC since being sidelined for several matches due to injury. Diomande had just subbed on 18 minutes earlier for Christian Ramirez, but was able to make his mark on the match within a short time frame. Latif Blessing had also just entered the match, in the 79th minute for Carlos Vela, and was able to pull defenders away from Rossi on his run. 

The match ended with a 2-0 victory for LAFC, but their lead could have been more if it weren’t from some key saves from Colorado’s goalkeeper Tim Howard throughout the match. 

Looking ahead for LAFC, they will play against their cross-town rivals LA Galaxy for the third iteration of El Trafico on Friday Aug. 24th at 10:30 p.m. E.T. at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. 

The post LAFC’s consecutive 2-0 wins propel them forward ahead of El Trafico appeared first on Pro Soccer USA.