Mathias Laborda scored the decisive spot kick long after his goal late in the first half and the nine-man Vancouver Whitecaps prevailed 4-3 on penalties in the Western Conference semifinals over visiting Los Angeles FC on Saturday night following a 2-2 draw.
Sebastian Berhalter, Jayden Nelson and Ryan Gauld also converted tiebreaker penalties for Vancouver, which advances to its first Western Conference Final in its 15th MLS season despite giving back a 2-0 lead in the second half.
Emmanuel Sabbi scored the other first-half goal for the No. 2 seeded Whitecaps, who will play the winner of Monday’s second semifinal between No. 1 San Diego and No. 4 Minnesota.
Son Heung-min scored twice after halftime to rally No. 3 LAFC, including a stunning, stoppage-time free kick that forced extra time. Whitecaps defender Tristan Blackmon was sent off for his second booking on the foul that set up Son’s leveler, drawn by Denis Bouanga.
Vancouver was then reduced to nine when injured defender Belal Halbouni could not continue in the second half of extra time after manager Jesper Sorensen had already exhausted his substitutes.
But LAFC couldn’t find the third with their two-man advantage, even striking the goalframe three times on one sequence in the dying stages of extra time, once through David Martinez and twice through Bouanga.
Son then struck the post with LAFC’s first penalty, and Mark Delgado also missed the target for the Black and Gold in the final game under outgoing manager Steve Cherundolo.
Vancouver’s ability to hang on contrasted with its first-half dominance, in which it outshot LAFC 7-1 overall and 5-0 in efforts on target.
Sabbi finally rewarded that dominance in the 39th minute when he chipped goalkeeper Hugo Lloris after running onto a longball over the top from his own keeper, Yohei Takaoka.
Laborda doubled the lead seven minutes later when he was first to the rebound of Lloris’ save of Thomas Muller’s header.
Son’s first came in the 60th minute via what appeared to be sheer force of will, when he finally finished through Vancouver defenders on his third attempt after Takaoka denied his first and a defender blocked his second.
Then came his leveler five minutes into second-half stoppage time.
With the ball about 24 yards from goal and beyond the left side of the penalty area, Son bent a perfect, right-footed strike over Vancouver’s defensive wall and into the top left corner ahead of Takaoka’s dive.
–Field Level Media
