Steve Cherundolo is confident his Los Angeles FC side can respond to their 3-3 draw with the Portland Timbers after he fumed over two VAR decisions. 

LAFC had two goals in the contest ruled out for offside, with Cherundolo himself sent off for showing his discontent towards the officials, but his players were able to grab a draw. 

Denis Bouanga levelled the game from the spot in the 90th minute, but Cherundolo believed that his team were deserving of more against Phil Neville's side. 

"I thought the game was quite entertaining. I thought both teams played their hearts out," Cherundolo said. "I couldn't be more proud of my team's performance. 

"They showed a lot of grit, resilience and quality. They played excellently and deserved much more, but unfortunately it wasn't.

"It was a game where the officials, with their decisions, decide games and, from an LAFC perspective, in a negative way. 

"We were told that officials were to keep their flags down when it is close and VAR would make the right call. It didn't happen. We scored two good goals that were taken away.

"It's a bitter pill to swallow, but we accept it. The response from my team was excellent and that makes me very proud."

St. Louis City, meanwhile, were able to stop their recent losing run by holding the Vancouver Whitecaps to a goalless draw for their fifth clean sheet of the season. 

They were able to hold the Western Conference leaders to just two shots on target in the match from the 17 they attempted. 

And head coach Olof Mellberg believes the point is a solid foundation for his team to build on ahead of making the trip to the BMO Stadium to face LAFC this weekend. 

"I thought we did well," said Mellberg. "We've been scouting a lot during the week, how [Vancouver] plays, not only [striker Brian White] but the rest of the team as well.

"It is a solid team. They have good players, but we were ready for how they play. We expected them to play the way they did.

"I'm happy with the game plan, and the guys did really well. They looked confident out there.

"I think there are a lot of positives to take from today's game. We were well-organised. We worked hard.

"We lost the ball too easily sometimes, but we worked extremely hard in transition to defend. We prevented them from creating big chances from that. Happy with that today."

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

LAFC – Denis Bouanga

Bouanga attempted 10 shots in LAFC's draw with Portland on Saturday, including scoring the equalising goal in the 90th minute.

He is the first player in LAFC history to attempt 10 shots in a regular-season match and will be hoping to play a pivotal role in this weekend's encounter.

St. Louis City – Joao Klauss

St. Louis' struggles this season have been in front of goal, scoring a division-low five goals from their nine games so far, though Klauss has been a bright spark in their attack.

In their goalless draw with Vancouver, Klauss ended the contest with team-high totals for shots (two) and touches in the opposition box (seven), but the Brazilian was unable to add to the one goal he has scored this campaign.

MATCH PREDICTION: LAFC WIN

LAFC are unbeaten in four all-time meetings with St. Louis (W3 D1) including winning both previous meetings at BMO Stadium. They have also never conceded against this weekend's opponents.

Cherundolo's team have won six of their first seven home matches in all competitions this season (L1), allowing only two goals in those games. Five of the six victories at the BMO Stadium this year have been by one-goal margins, including all three in regular-season play.

St. Louis, meanwhile, snapped their four-match losing streak with a scoreless draw against Vancouver on Saturday. The Whitecaps took 17 shots in the match but failed to score with St. Louis' 5% opponent conversion rate the best in MLS this season.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

LAFC – 59.6%

Draw – 21.1%

St. Louis City – 19.3%