Soccer <\/p>\n
Over the past few years, Denis Bouanga<\/a> would seemingly be a prime target for jet lag as he travels from Los Angeles to various African destinations to play for the Gabon national team.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Yet the main effect on LAFC<\/a>\u2019s star attacker could be described as \u2018inspiration.\u2019<\/p>\n How else to describe his uncanny track record of high performance after long-haul travel? Two Septembers ago<\/a>, in the opening months of his lavishly productive Black & Gold tenure, Bouanga logged a full 90 in Gabon\u2019s 1-0 African Cup of Nations qualifying win over Sudan in Franceville on a Thursday, then boarded a flight to Istanbul, where after a three-hour layover, he caught a connection to LAX.<\/p>\n He landed on Saturday evening and reached BMO Stadium less than an hour before his club was scheduled to kick off an MLS match vs. FC Dallas<\/a>. After 13 hours of somewhere around 10,000 miles (16,093 kilometers) in air travel, it\u2019s safe to say coach Steve Cherundolo was not expecting to call upon his prized asset that night. But that\u2019s an example of how differently Bouanga is built: Upon his request, the winger came off the bench to bag a late winner in a 2-1 victory.<\/p>\n \u201cThe coach just wanted me to watch the game,\u201d he later told The Athletic<\/a>, \u201cbut I asked him to play. He let me on the field, and I scored. It was perfect \u2013 it was meant to be.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n A short supersub cameo is one thing, a skeptic might retort. But what Bouanga did in the opposite direction last month, and after an even longer trip, is another. This time, he flew to Mauritius, a small Indian Ocean island serving as the host for Gabon\u2019s CAF World Cup qualifier vs. the Seychelles, a small island nation with venue issues on home soil.<\/p>\n Joining his Panth\u00e8res (Panthers) teammates on site without a single training session beforehand, Bouanga reeled off a first-half hat trick<\/a> in less than 40 minutes to bank a straightforward 4-0 victory that kept Gabon hot on the trail of reigning African champions C\u00f4te d’Ivoire atop Group F, and Bouanga near the summit of the continent\u2019s scoring chart with eight goals and counting in this qualification cycle.<\/p>\n Again and again, Bouanga has defied the usual norms of what\u2019s physically possible after intercontinental journeys of this nature, racking up gaudy statistics and highlight-reel plays for both club and country. The 2023 MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi winner recently became the first player in MLS history to score at least 20 goals in three consecutive seasons and co-leads this year\u2019s race, neck-and-neck with Inter Miami<\/a>‘s Lionel Messi<\/a> on 24 goals apiece.<\/p>\nScoring force<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n