February 21, 2026; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles FC forward Dennis Buanga (99) celebrates after scoring a goal past Inter Miami CF goalkeeper Dane St. Clair (97) in the second half at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-Imagn Image Los Angeles FC will look to continue their perfect start on Saturday night when they visit a Houston Dynamo team that has been one of the busiest teams in MLS in terms of offseason deals under new coach Mark dos Santos.
Dos Santos’ Black and Gold opened the regular season with a dominant 3-0 win over Lionel Messi and Inter Miami on February 21. On either side of that, LAFC (1-0-0, 3 points) beat Real Spain in the first round of the CONCACAF Champions Cup, 6-1 in the first leg away in Honduras and 1-0 in the return match at home on Tuesday.
Denis Buanga has scored four goals in his first two games, while Son Heung-min has added four assists. But dos Santos still opted to play his star duo in the first half of Tuesday’s return game despite being virtually certain to advance.
“Rhythm,” he said. “Sonny hasn’t had a perfect pre-season so it’s important for him to continue to get his rhythm going and I told both Sonny and Denis this week that we would get 45 minutes on the field and make changes at half-time, so they knew that.”
The Dynamo (1-0-0, 3 points) opened the regular season with a 2-1 home win over the Chicago Fire on Feb. 21, which featured a pair of goals in Brazil’s Guilherme Augusto’s MLS debut.
In addition to the 30-year-old former Santos captain, the Dynamo also signed former LAFC winger Matheus Bogus from Cruz Azul and brought in Hector Herrera from Toluca this winter to strengthen a team that finished 12th in the Western Conference in 2025.
Herrera, 35, was previously a member of the Houston team that advanced to the 2023 West finals. He has yet to see the field since returning.
Houston coach Ben Olson suggested the new team’s second test could be even more difficult than the first. It can also be a good measuring stick.
“I think they are a better team than any team in the history of the league in terms of the way they transition and the quality of their attack,” Olson said of LAFC. “We’ll have our work cut out for us, but I think it’s a challenge this group is very excited about.”
The two teams have split their last five meetings, with each team winning twice and one goalless draw.
–Field level media
