Good riddance, August.
Across eight matches in 29 days, the Los Angeles Football Club struggled to score and keep pace.
Culminating in a scoreless draw at under-the-playoff-line D.C. United last weekend, LAFC (10-7-6, 36 points) totaled three points over five league games while scoring twice.
Stressed by an unyielding schedule, injuries and outbound transfers who weren’t offset with replacements until late in the MLS’ secondary transfer window, which closed Wednesday, the squad flirted with burnout, a thin midfield, and an attack that didn’t finish enough of its chances after exploding for 10 goals in three victories during a nine-day stretch coming out of the World Cup break.
“I feel maybe we need more creativity also from our midfielders because right now they all have a certain profile that helps the team, but when we have to be in between lines and play against teams where we have more of the ball, we’re depending a lot on individual plays of Denis or Son,” head coach Marc Dos Santos said.
Dos Santos won’t be able to call on Venezuelan talent David Martínez to help Bouanga or Son.
On Tuesday, Martínez, 20, expectedly departed to Europe, joining FC Midtjylland of the Danish Superliga for a fee of $8.5 million plus a sell-on percentage.
But in the waning days of the transfer window, Dos Santos grew hopeful that LAFC had acquired some of the creativity he craved, particularly in the middle of the field.
Following last week’s news of U22 Initiative signing Sergio Vásquez, LAFC announced Leo Walta had been acquired on loan from English Championship team Swansea City through 2026 with an option to make it permanent.
Walta scored 16 goals and had three assists last year in the Danish league. The 23-year-old native of Finland had played in 10 of 14 games for Swansea since joining in February, scoring once. He arrived in Los Angeles and underwent medical exams on Thursday, but he won’t be cleared in time to travel to face Real Salt Lake on Saturday night.
Vásquez remains in Ecuador as his visa process continues.
German addition Armindo Sieb, a stout presence on the wing, could be cleared in time to travel.
Meanwhile, Spanish defender Sergi Palencia won’t play but will make the trip. Palencia has missed 14 games since mid-May. His name does not appear on the player status report, and he returned to full training on Friday.
Due to a lack of available reinforcements plus the absences of Igor Jesus and Timothy Tillman, who is out for a second straight match, Dos Santos has contemplated a formation change for the match against RSL (8-9-4, 28 points).
Anchored by a cadre of strong center backs, defending remains the strength of the team. Conceding the third-fewest goals in MLS, a stingy LAFC managed not to drop in the Western Conference standings despite lagging through the dog days of the MLS schedule and going winless in four straight games.
The same could not be said for RSL. Winless in eight games, including a 3-1 loss to LAFC at BMO Stadium in July, Salt Lake has slipped from fourth to 10th place in the past month and a half.
RSL takes the field on Saturday without forward Morgan Guilavogui (two goals, seven assists), who was suspended due to yellow card accumulation. The 28-year-old French Designated Player quickly formed a partnership with American Zavier Gozo, who scored six goals and five assists before being transferred to Crystal Palace in the English Premier League.
When LAFC visited Utah last September, Son scored a hat-trick in the midst of a heater alongside Denis Bouanga. The dynamic duo appeared unstoppable while leading LAFC to a 7-2-3 run heading into the MLS Cup playoffs.
Finishing strong and earning a top-four playoff seed is the first objective over the final third of the 2026 season, Dos Santos told the players. Efforting to do what they could not in Washington D.C., Dos Santos has left open the possibility of starting three center backs and taking off a midfielder.
“There’s what I would want to do and how I would want to play with a certain profile of players,” Dos Santos said. “And then there’s the reality right now of who you have, the amount of players in one position, not enough in another, and as a coach you can’t. You have to think about what’s better for the group right now.”
LAFC AT REAL SALT LAKE
When: Saturday, 6:30 p.m. PT
Where: America First Field, Sandy, Utah
TV/Radio: Apple TV/710 AM, 980 AM, 1230 AM