Ilie Sanchez has helped lead the Los Angeles FC to its first Major League Soccer championship…
The 31-year-old Spanish professional footballer hit the game-winning goal in an epic championship match at Banc of California Stadium against Philadelphia Union to give the LAFC the teams first MLS Cup title
Sanchez and his LAFC teammates beat the Philadelphia Union on penalty kicks after a 3-3 draw for the ages – and also making the hosts the first team to complete a Cup-Supporters’ Shield double since Toronto FC in 2017.
Gareth Bale’s thunderous 128th-minute equalizing header sent the game into penalty kicks, showing exactly why the Black & Gold signed the superstar forward this summer as he left Real Madrid. That canceled out a possible man-of-the-match performance from Philly center back Jack Elliott, whose first equalizer booked extra frames, and then his go-ahead 124th-minute strike pushed the Union on the verge of a first MLS Cup trophy.
But Bale came up huge with the final whistle nearing, and back-up goalkeeper John McCarthy took the hero’s cape in the PK shootout by saving two Union efforts – from Jose Martinez and Kai Wagner – after Daniel Gazdag sent the Eastern Conference champions’ first attempt over the crossbar.
LAFC first got scores from Denis Bouanga and Ryan Hollingshead in PKs, then Ilie Sanchez’s game-winner from the spot sealed a 3-0 advantage for the Black & Gold from 12 yards out.
From there, celebrations ensued for the Western Conference champions before their 3252 supporters’ section – all in a final that pitted the league’s top two teams against each other for the first time since 2003.
