LAFC secured the Supporters' Shield for the second time in four years with Sunday's 2-1 win at Portland Timbers after Denis Bouanga's 95th-minute winner.
The Californian club capitalized on Philadelphia Union's 4-0 loss to Charlotte on Saturday, with Sunday's win moving them three points clear with one game to play. The MLS uses most wins as the first tiebreak if points are equal, with LAFC (21) ahead of Union (18).
Bouanga's maiden goal for LAFC came deep into second-half stoppage time and was the moment that clinched silverware, with the Gabon international jinking into the box before firing home a low shot.
Carlos Vela had a goalbound shot cleared off the line by Claudio Bravo in the 33rd minute, but the Mexican would not be denied with a curling left-foot strike from the edge of the box in the 51st minute.
Dairon Asprilla equalized with a powerful header from Bravo's 81st-minute cross, but Bouanga had the decisive intervention to clinch the Supporters' Shield for the visitors.
LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo said: "These type of emotional endings in games seem to be a habit in this league, not quite sure why. We're ecstatic. We had a goal this year and we've achieved the first one."
Portland's loss meant Nashville clinched a playoffs spot for the third straight year despite losing 2-1 at home to lowly Houston Dynamo, for whom Sebastian Ferreira scored a double.
Seattle Sounders lost 1-0 at Sporting KC, confirming they will miss the playoffs for the first time in their 13-year history, marking the end of an era.
Reigning MLS Cup winners New York City made it back-to-back wins with a 2-1 home victory over Orlando City, who are hanging on for a playoffs spot.
Chiellini keen to continue football career in the boardroom, not the dugout
Giorgio Chiellini is keen to stay in football when he calls time on his glittering career, though he imagines himself becoming a director rather than a coach.
Chiellini won nine Serie A titles during a distinguished spell with Juventus and captained Italy to Euro 2020 glory before moving to the United States last year, helping Los Angeles FC win the MLS Cup.
LAFC failed to go back-to-back as they were beaten 2-1 by the Columbus Crew in Saturday's MLS Cup final, and Chiellini has yet to make a decision on whether he will play on in 2024, with his contract due to expire this month.
As for his long-term future, the 39-year-old has his eyes set on a place in the boardroom, rather than the dugout.
Speaking exclusively to Stats Perform, Chiellini said: "I did a degree in economics and the NBA, and I had always that type of management in my mind.
"Not as a coach, not in scouting, but yeah, to try to remain linked in the world of football on that side.
"It's not easy. It's not a journey that you start and then you can decide, you have to study and learn many things because at the end, you come into this world at 40 and not at 25.
"Then you have some other skills that probably other football players don't have, but you miss other parts.
"What I hope for my future is to have the time to learn and the patience to stay close to some key figures and key people that are open to teaching me what I'm missing, and to develop this type of situation. I cannot just focus on watching games."
Expanding further on what his ideal role would entail, the defender added: "More of a director, not just scouting, but something more management based.
"Related to football, but not as one of the people who watch the players in order to pick them.
"Something where I maybe help the club to figure out about what we could spend for players, how we could afford them, how we could improve the situation, all this stuff."
On This Day in 2006: Alan Pardew leaves West Ham
West Ham sacked manager Alan Pardew on this day in 2006.
Pardew had joined the Hammers in September 2003, having resigned as Reading boss after the Royals rebuffed West Ham’s initial request to speak to him about their vacant position.
In his first season, Pardew guided West Ham to the Championship play-off final but fell at the final hurdle against his former club Crystal Palace.
They were back in the play-off final the following summer after a season in which they failed to sustain a strong push for automatic promotion, albeit going up anyway after beating Preston 1-0 at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
The Hammers made an encouraging start to life in the top flight as Pardew guided them to ninth place and the FA Cup final, where they were beaten on penalties by Liverpool at the end of a match which finished 3-3 following extra-time.
Optimism was high at the start of the following season as Argentinian pair Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano arrived at the club, but with European football added to their commitments, West Ham took a backward step.
An eight-game losing streak matched a 74-year-old club record and included an exit from the UEFA Cup at the hands of Palermo and a humiliating League Cup defeat to League One Chesterfield.
When Eggert Magnusson’s consortium arrived as new owners in early November they initially backed Pardew, but patience ran out with a 4-0 defeat to Bolton and Pardew was shown the door two weeks before Christmas.
Former West Ham player Alan Curbishley was named as his replacement two days later, having recently ended a 15-year spell in charge of Charlton, and he steered them to safety.
Mat Sadler says Walsall showed what a ‘fantastic’ team they are at Notts County
Walsall boss Mat Sadler was thrilled with his team’s display after his side came from a goal down to win 2-1 at promotion hopefuls Notts County.
Oisin McEntee’s emphatic second-half brace cancelled out Aden Baldwin’s first goal of the campaign and ended the Saddlers’ six-game winless run.
Sadler said: “We are a good team, a very good team playing against what I also think is a very good team too with the way Luke (Williams) plays and the way he sets the team up. They take apart teams here, but we showed what a fantastic team we are and by team, I mean everybody together.
“The first half we go in 1-0 down but I said to the lads that I thought we controlled the game out of possession – the only thing missing in the first half was just that final piece of quality at times, but I knew we could hurt them as the game went on and the lads believed we could hurt them as the game went on.
“I gave the players a few minutes to speak to themselves, I always do. You get a vibe from what they are saying but, in the end, we got what we deserved.”
“The most important players in our game were going to be our two eights and outside centre-halves…and then Oisin (McEntee) pops up with the two goals which were thoroughly deserved. We know he has got goals in his game.”
As for the Magpies, another cold afternoon turned into an evening to forget as they fell to their third home league defeat of the season, and their fourth of the calendar year.
Williams said: “The conditions were not a problem, it was more the lack of energy. And we did not have the bravery to play with the ball in the second half.
“If we are not going to be great defensively, and we are then not going to outscore the opposition, I am not sure what we are going to do.
“The first half was really cagey, but we made a breakthrough. The second half, I did not even recognise the team.
“I want to win. It is no good to just be here when the team are winning every week. I need to be here and try to help them, try to remain focused on the job, so that we can try to come through on the other side of it.
“We are new to the division. We are learning the opposition and we have stuttered. We cannot seem to find a consistency so we need to find a decent level and be able to maintain that.”
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