Excellent Display to Draw LAFC

LAFC's Son Heung-Min during pregame warmups

DC United 0-0 LAFC, August 29, 2026

DC put in an excellent display to hold LAFC and its superstars to a scoreless, but definitely not boring, draw.

Rowles continues to be out with injury, as does Baribo, and Hefti was out with yellow card suspension, so the lineup was juggled a bit, as was the formation (4-3-3).

DC's lineup:

Johnson in goal

Kurokawa, Dozzell, Bartlett, Nono in defense

Peglo, Peltola, Servania in midfield

Ordaz, Hopkins, Munteanu at forward,

Baribo, Munteanu at forward

Subs: Kijima for Hopkins (77th, Stroud for Servania (86th), Markovic for Ordaz (92nd).

A nice night at Audi, beautiful late August weather. LAFC brought superstar firepower to the District, first and foremost Son Heung-Min, one of the best Asian players of all time and a legend in his native South Korea. There were "Son" jerseys throughout the crowd, and they took tons of photos of him during warmups (see photos above and below) and cheered his every touch.

Korean fans photograph Son during pregame warmups

Son was a pleasure to watch during warmups, showing great skill. Once the game started, he was right in front of me for the first half, on his team's left side. He reminded me of DC legend Jaime Moreno, slowly jogging (or even walking) for much of the game, and waiting to get the ball to show his magic. Fortunately for DC, Nono did a great job of containing him in the first half. In the second half, Son moved to the center and the right; I don't know if it was Nono's defense or just an LAFC tactical change.

LAFC had over 60% of the possession, more corners (8-5) and outshot DC 17-14, but only put one shot on goal, which Johnson saved nicely. Many shots would have been on goal, but DC defenders did a great job putting their bodies in the way to block them. DC, on the other hand, put 4 shots on goal, 2 of them great ones. Only magnificent saves by another LAFC superstar (French international goalie Hugo Lloris) kept the game scoreless.

The game could have gone either way, but a tie seemed fair. After poor outings recently against New England and Charlotte, it was nice to see a good effort against a good team, even if it was only a draw.

Next up are three games in 8 days for DC: at Cincinnati on September 5, home to Columbus on September 9, and home to Atlanta on September 12.