Los Angeles FC v St Louis City: Dos Santos to ´juggle´ MLS and Champions Cup ambitions

Los Angeles FC head coach Marc Dos Santos admitted that his side will have to “juggle” their MLS and Champions Cup ambitions early in the 2026 season.

LAFC face St Louis City on Saturday, looking to make it four wins in as many games in MLS, though they face Alajuelense in the second leg of their Champions Cup last 16 tie on Tuesday.

Denis Bounaga, assisted by Son Heung-min, rescued a 1-1 draw in the first leg at BMO Stadium, leaving it all to play for in Costa Rica next week.

LAFC are one of just four teams to start the 2026 MLS campaign with three consecutive wins, along with the Vancouver Whitecaps, San Diego FC and San Jose Earthquakes.

Dos Santos admitted he may choose to rest players against St Louis as LAFC have one eye on their Champions Cup last 16 second leg.

“Right now, my head is [focused] on Saturday. I told my guys we have to put a pause on this game [Champions Cup],” said Dos Santos.

“We need to relax as a group and get ready for Saturday. Of course, we have to think about having fresh legs on Tuesday [second leg], but we also need to think about the opportunity to win 12 out of 12 points in MLS.

“We are going to juggle these two things. Some guys have to go Saturday and Tuesday, for other guys, it’s better that they rest because of their profile.

“Some are only going to play 45 minutes and then come off, because we’ll think about Tuesday.”

Building #LAFC | Arnipatch pic.twitter.com/SmJFW9um11

— LAFC (@LAFC) March 12, 2026

St Louis, meanwhile, are 14th in the Western Conference after picking up just one point from their opening three games.

They lost 1-0 to the Seattle Sounders last time out, which followed a 2-0 defeat to conference leaders San Diego.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Los Angeles FC – Denis Bouanga

Bouanga has scored six goals in his last four matches against St Louis City, netting at least once in all four games.

St Louis are one of three teams, along with LA Galaxy and San Jose, that Bouanga has scored six regular-season goals against since the start of last season.

St Louis City – Marcel Hartel

Hartel has hit six of his seven shot attempts on target, including scoring St Louis’s lone goal of the season, while Cedric Teuchert has hit the target with four of his five shots.

The rest of the St Louis team have managed to hit the target with just eight of 28 shots.

MATCH PREDICTION – LOS ANGELES FC WIN

LAFC are unbeaten in six all-time meetings with St Louis (W4 D2), keeping clean sheets in five of the six games.

St Louis’s only goals against LAFC came in their last visit to BMO Stadium, a 2-2 draw last April.

LAFC, San Diego and San Jose have each started their season with three straight shutout wins, something that had only been done twice in MLS history prior to this year, by Seattle in 2009 and LA Galaxy in 2010.

After losing only one of their previous seven matches dating back to the end of last season (W3 D3), St Louis have lost two straight, failing to score in either match.

This is the first time St Louis have failed to score in consecutive matches in all competitions since going goalless in three straight last March-April.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Los Angeles FC – 71.5%

Draw – 16.3%

St Louis City – 12.2%