With a culminated comeback in the supplementary, Los Angeles FC (LAFC, according to its acronym) became the 32nd team of the FIFA 2025 Club World Cup. In the early hours of this Sunday, he beat Mexico’s America 2-1 in a dramatic duel that was resolved in the last minute of regular time and in a lengthe LAFC, in the 64th minute. But the Angelino team, who played this repechage in its stadium, matched the score through the Brazilian Igor Jesus in the 89th minute and appropriated the square with the definition of Bouanga in the 115th minute. From week to Toluca in the final of the 2025 Clausura Tournament of Mexican football. “His pain is ours (…) The feeling of frustration of all,” said the coach of America, Andre Jardine, thanking the support of his fan. “We expected to get out of here with the World Cup ticket. It was something we dreamed of, that we had in our goals. ‘Águilas’ such as LaFC had the unexpected opportunity to integrate into the World Cup, the first extended to 32 teams, following the disqualification of the lion, excluded when part of the same owner group as another participant, Pachuca, a situation prohibited by the FIFA regulations. The world agency decreed that the place was disputed by the LAFC, for being a finalist of the Cup of Champions of the Copa de la Concaca of 2023 that León won, and America, a better picture located in the Ranking of the Confederation. In the repechage, which had more tension than football, the succulent bonus of 9.55 million dollars was also at stake that the FIFA will deliver to each participant. Setting the call of their team, the huge Mexican community of Los Angeles came in support of ‘Las Águilas’, being a majority among the 20,000 fans present in the BMO Stadium. FIFA, to justify the choice of this court, alleged that the playback should be played in one of the eleven cities of the World Cup. In this form, Mexican football will have as the only representatives in the World Cup in Pachuca and Monterrey. The United States, on the other hand, will feature the LAFC, the Seattle Sounders and the Inter Miami of Lionel Messi in the tournament that begins on June 14 and ends on July 13. Campeon of the North American League (MLS) in 2022 and finalist in 2023, the LAFC will be installed in group D next to the Chelsea of England, Flamengo de Brazil Tunisia. “It is a great opportunity. Personally I wanted to play that tournament but for the team and fans it is also something truly magical,” said Bouanga, leader of a franchise that in his seven years of history had figures such as Carlos Vela, Gareth Bale and Giorgio Chiellini.
