LAFC Blank Red Bulls 2-0 for Club-Record 13th Shutout as Jude Terry and Armindo Sieb Score

Six league games without a win is the kind of stretch that makes a fan base start refreshing the trade rumors page. LAFC ended theirs the old-fashioned way: a scrappy goal, a wall of defending and a stoppage-time rocket to remove all doubt.

Jude Terry pounced on a rebound in the 21st minute, Armindo Sieb buried his first MLS goal deep in second-half stoppage time, and LAFC beat Red Bull New York 2-0 on Wednesday night at BMO Stadium. Hugo Lloris needed just one save, and the club says the shutout was its 13th of the season, a new single-season record for the Black & Gold.

Son Swings, Terry Collects

The Red Bulls came out with plenty of the ball and an early warning shot. Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting fired over the bar in the seventh minute after a break, then forced Lloris into a low save in the 15th. That turned out to be the only shot New York put on target all night.

LAFC's opener was a lesson in following your teammate's work. Yevhen Cheberko won the ball on the left and fed Son Heung-Min, whose left-footed shot from the left side of the box was saved by Ethan Horvath. Terry was first to the loose ball and side-footed it home from the middle of the area in the 21st minute. Per the club, it was his first career goal at BMO Stadium.

New York's night started to come apart physically soon after. Justin Che needed treatment in the eighth minute, play was stopped twice for Adri Mehmeti before Sekou Kone replaced him in the 33rd, and the visitors had already spent a substitution before halftime. LAFC kept pressing: Horvath stopped Jacob Shaffelburg in the 42nd minute, then turned away Son from distance and an Aaron Long header from close range on back-to-back plays in first-half stoppage time.

The Red Bulls Run Out of Bodies

Head coach Michael Bradley tried to reset with a triple change in the 56th minute, sending on Jorge Ruvalcaba, Julian Hall and Mijahir Jiménez for Cade Cowell, Mohammed Sofo and Choupo-Moting. Cowell had just missed narrowly from the right side of the box in the 47th, so the intent was clear. LAFC countered in the 61st minute with Sieb and Igor Jesus, the latter making his first appearance in just over a year after a knee injury, according to the club.

From there, the match tilted toward one end. LAFC won five corners in a three-minute burst from the 68th minute on, Son had four shots blocked between the 78th and 87th minutes, and Horvath kept making stops, denying Sieb from distance in the 80th and Denis Bouanga a minute later. The problem for New York was the treatment table. Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, who had come on in the 66th minute, went off injured after the Red Bulls had used all of their substitutions, and Che followed in stoppage time.

So when Sieb found space at the top of the box in the 96th minute, New York had nine men on the field. Ryan Hollingshead picked him out, and the forward took a touch and lashed a left-footed shot into the top left corner. Ballgame.

Horvath Was Great, Lloris Was Barely Needed

Horvath deserves the first paragraph of any New York postmortem. Six saves, several of them from close range, kept a lopsided second half from becoming a rout. Lloris, meanwhile, had the quietest shutout imaginable: one save. The club says he now has 12 clean sheets this season, matching his 2024 total.

Son led all players with eight shots, a number the club says equals his MLS career high, but nothing went in for him. Terry's goal was his second of the season. Sieb, who made his LAFC debut on Saturday at Real Salt Lake, scored in his home debut, and the club notes it was LAFC's 11th goal from outside the area this year, tied for the most in MLS.

Hollingshead got ESPN's credit for the assist on the second goal; LAFC's recap also credits Cheberko, who was involved in both scoring moves.

For New York, Dennis Nelich and Kone made their MLS debuts, and Devin Padelford made his first start for the club.

The Turning Point

Terry's rebound in the 21st minute. New York had the early possession and the only shot on target, and one sharp reaction flipped the script. LAFC is now 11-0-2 in MLS when scoring first, per the club, and once it had a lead, it could absorb New York's possession and wait for its chance on the break. The injuries made that wait easier.

Stats That Matter

• Possession: Red Bull New York 57.1 percent, LAFC 42.9 percent.
• Shots on target: LAFC 8, Red Bull New York 1.
• Saves: Horvath made 6, Lloris made 1.
• Corners: LAFC 9, Red Bull New York 3.
• Passing: New York completed 581 of 641 passes; LAFC completed 412 of 478.

Back in the Win Column

LAFC moved to 11-7-7 with 40 points, and the club says it held third place in the Western Conference. The ESPN sheets show what this win snapped: a 1-1 draw at Vancouver on Aug. 1, losses to San Diego FC and at Colorado, then draws with Portland, at D.C. United and at Real Salt Lake. The club adds that it is now 8-3-2 at home in league play and that this was its first MLS win since May 24 in which neither Bouanga nor Son scored. A three-game road swing starts Saturday at Sporting Kansas City.

New York dropped to 7-6-11 with 27 points and is winless in four league matches, with draws against Chicago and at Seattle around losses to Philadelphia and LAFC. The next stop on the road trip is Columbus on Saturday.

Bradley's message was pride with an asterisk. "I am extremely proud of the way that they went after the game, the way they competed, the way they tried to step on the field against a good team in a difficult place to play, and put the game on our term," he said, before adding the part that matters in September: "We understand that we have to continue to get better and continue to be more concrete in some of the big moments of the game."

Nine Men and a Missing Spark

There is a version of this game where New York's possession and early shape turn into a point. It just required a healthy roster and a finisher. The Red Bulls had neither by the end, and LAFC, a team that had forgotten how to win for a month, remembered it is very good at keeping the ball out of its own net.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Club records, notes and standings as reported by LAFC (lafc.com); postgame quotes and roster notes as reported by Red Bull New York (newyorkredbulls.com).