Denis Bouanga doesn't need chances. He needs fractions of chances, and he'll put them away anyway.
The Los Angeles FC forward scored twice in Sunday's 4-0 demolition of Sporting Kansas City, both goals coming from opportunities that amounted to just 0.53 expected goals between them. That he managed to bury them both speaks to a level of ruthlessness that tilts matches: Bouanga outperformed his xG by 1.47, turning low-probability situations into a comfortable afternoon for the home side.
It's the sort of clinical finishing that doesn't show up neatly in pre-match models. The data suggested he might not score at all; instead, he left with a brace and a 9.4 match rating, the highest on the pitch by some distance.
Sporting Kansas City, already chasing shadows after conceding early, had no answer. LAFC added two more to compound the misery, but it was Bouanga's conversion rate that set the tone. When a forward can punish half-chances with that kind of efficiency, defensive plans unravel quickly.
The performance underlines what separates elite finishers from the rest: not the volume of opportunities, but what they do with the scraps. Bouanga had little to work with on paper. On the pitch, he made it look easy.