Denis Bouanga: LAFC’s creative engine torments LA Galaxy | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

Greg Vanney made a calculated gamble on Wednesday night and lost.

His LA Galaxy are wading through three games in eight days, every point precious as they try to climb out of the Western Conference basement and into the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs hunt. The head coach saw the need, though, to rotate Mathias “Zanka” Jørgensen in for Emiro Garcés, probably his side’s top one-on-one defender, for Austin FC’s midweek visit to Dignity Health Sports Park, mindful of the latter’s cautions accumulation ahead of Saturday’s El Tráfico battle vs. LAFC (10:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+).

“Emiro is sitting on four yellow cards at the moment. It's a calculation with three games in the week, knowing also we play LAFC and they have [Denis] Bouanga on the side that you have to defend,” explained the coach after the frustrating 2-1 loss to ATX.

“Hoping that our two veteran center backs can hold the fort down in a game like tonight at home against a team that's missing their primary forward, and we didn't do it. So the calculation was wrong and that's the facts.”

El Tráfico hero

It’s an apt distillation of the power of Bouanga, a winger so consistently menacing, so devastating on the dribble that even bitter crosstown rivals feel compelled to adjust, even well in advance of gameday.

Vanney’s not the only coach in MLS facing this dilemma – with his tallies in the Black & Gold’s recent wins over Dallas and Minnesota, Bouanga has already reached double-digits in goals this year, just as he did in his other two full seasons in MLS – his instincts are well-founded. With eight goals in eight Tráfico appearances across all competitions, the French-Gabonese winger ranks as the third-leading scorer in the eight-year history of the rivalry, bested only by legends Carlos Vela (12 goals in 15 games) and Zlatan Ibrahimović (nine in six).

Few teams in the league are as dependent on a single player, especially considering LAFC’s defense-oriented game model, and nowhere more so than against their chief antagonists, when the spotlight burns brightest. With his blistering speed, trickery on the ball, relentless physicality and expertise in transition, Bouanga is a Galaxy killer, and the two sides’ ability to maximize or disrupt that track record figures to be a decisive factor in Saturday’s marquee clash.

“Denis remains an important part of our attack. One of the most dangerous players in the league,” said his coach, Steve Cherundolo, this week.

“He can beat you with physicality, he can beat you with his technique, whether that be on the dribble or as a pure finisher. So he has many tools to break defenses down, and we rely on him to do that here at LAFC.”

Dominant attacker

The younger of Los Angeles' MLS clubs have been serial contenders since Bouanga arrived from Saint-Étienne in the summer of 2022, albeit with plenty of heartbreak at the final hurdle. The Black & Gold won a rare MLS Cup-Supporters' Shield double a few months later, reached the Concacaf Champions Cup and MLS Cup finals in 2023, then won last year's US Open Cup while also reaching the Leagues Cup final.

The highs and lows have been pronounced this year, too. Bouanga fired his side into the FIFA Club World Cup with a dramatic extra-time winner in the CWC play-in match vs. Club América in late May – “a $10 million goal,” as he put it afterwards in a playful nod to the event’s massive purse.

“For the team and everyone, I think it’s a huge moment. I think most of the players, and maybe even the club, won’t do this again in four years. For me, it’s a magical moment,” said Bouanga in French. “I think now we can say that we’re one of the best teams in the world, just by being part of this tournament.”

Yet he failed to convert a stoppage-time penalty kick in a 1-0 loss to Esperance Sportive de Tunis that eliminated the Angelenos from advancement out of the CWC’s group stage – all before rescuing some pride with a goal that delivered a 1-1 draw against Brazilian powerhouse Flamengo in their final fixture.

His teammates, however, will tell you he’s the same fierce competitor every single day, week in, week out – not just on matchday but on the training ground, where Bouanga is described as a voracious worker who hates the sound of the final whistle.

“We are playing every three days – it’s been fatiguing, it’s been tiring these last couple months, and he wants to train,” said fullback Sergi Palencia this week. “He wants to finish the training, and he’s shooting at the goalies, he wants to dribble, he wants to play small[-sided] games. So he's crazy. He just wants to push, to play and to enjoy, and we are so thankful that we have these kind of players … We all have highs and lows. But because he's so important for us, we all see if he's a little more high or low.”

Black & Gold leader

As Bouanga goes, so do LAFC – perhaps now more than ever. Vela formally retired in May. Wingers Mateusz Bogusz and Cristian Olivera were transferred to Cruz Azul and Grêmio, respectively. Cengiz Ünder's six-month loan stint from Fenerbahçe was not extended, and Olivier Giroud recently returned to France, his time in Los Angeles disappointing for all parties.

Any attacking reinforcements in this summer’s window would be welcome, but they’ll need to dovetail with Bouanga’s skill set, and Cherundolo points out that with the ruptured achilles that just sidelined captain Aaron Long for the rest of the season, center back is the club’s top priority in that department.

“His season? For attackers, it's always up and down,” said the coach of his star winger. “When you get on the scoring board, you're up; when you don't, you're down. We try to see the work in between. And for me, it's been very consistent over the past three years. So I tend not to see attackers just based on their form and production. I look at the entire package, and so for me, it's been pretty consistent.”

Young homegrown Nathan Ordaz has made noticeable strides this year, while Cherundolo and the club’s technical staff hope loan arrival Javairô Dilrosun can continue to settle in and shoulder a share of the creative burden. Yet this is unquestionably Bouanga’s team, and the Angelenos are just fine with that. They consider it their responsibility to disrupt the tailored game plans opponents routinely roll out to blunt his influence.

“You say highs and lows, but his work rate, his runs, his effort, his ambition to play, to score, to assist, it's always the same,” said Palencia of Bouanga. “Our team depends on him. We all know that. Everyone has to do a little bit more to support him in scoring, for example. Now, Nathan, Java, they are doing well in the last couple of games, helping him a little more; Ryan [Hollingshead] also overlapping him – all the teams, they mark Denis with two players.

“So now we have to be able to give him a little more [space] to have his actions, to have his game. But I would say always, he is the same. He helps us so much.”

All eyes on Denis

Sitting next to Palencia during a media availability, Hollingshead, LAFC’s usual left back, nodded.

“Nobody, nobody in the league is getting double- and triple-teams like this guy is,” said the 12-year MLS veteran. “Every time he touches the ball, every team is throwing two, three guys to go defend him. There's not a player in the league that sees that sort of attention, and so for him to be doing what he's doing, even with that attention, is crazy.”

Three goals and two assists in the four league matches since the close of the CWC adventure suggest Bouanga has turned the page quickly.

He was named to the MLS All-Star squad last month, his third such honor, and will represent the league in Tuesday’s All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T. With 85 career goals for LAFC in 135 matches across all competitions, he could soon surpass Vela (93 goals in 186 games) as the club’s all-time leading scorer, and probably at a markedly faster pace.

For the foreseeable future, he will remain a knotty problem for the likes of Vanney to solve, and nowhere more so than El Tráfico.

“We've got to be able to have the right guys and the right players to manage transitions; try to slow him down or to keep him to the outside,” said the Galaxy coach before last season’s first edition, won by a Bouanga penalty kick.

“It's easier said than done.”