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Son Heung-min is ready to lead the LAFC charge in the MLS Cup playoffs

Son Heung-min is ready to lead the LAFC charge in the MLS Cup playoffs

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Son Heung-min has only been playing in Major League Soccer for three and a half months, but has already had a significant impact on his team, Los Angeles FC, and on the league as a whole.

By James Nalton

Since arriving in California in August, Son Heung-min has scored 10 goals in 12 games, including two in the recent best-of-three MLS Cup playoff first round against Austin FC, which LAFC navigated with minimal fuss by winning the first two games.

That saw LAFC advance to a Western Conference semifinal this weekend against the impressive Canadian outfit, Vancouver Whitecaps, who recently signed a marquee player of their own, Thomas Müller.

The single-game knockout playoffs from here until the MLS Cup final add further unpredictability to an already unpredictable league, but the arrival of Son has certainly given LAFC more of a chance. They have lost just once in the 12 games in which he has featured since making his debut against Chicago, winning eight of them, and scoring 30 goals.

Thirteen of those goals were scored by Son’s fellow attacker, Denis Bouanga, who went on a scoring spree following his new teammate’s arrival. It propelled Bouanga up the league’s goalscoring charts, and only Lionel Messi (29) had scored more than the Gabon international’s total of 24 by the end of the regular season.

LAFC will be looking to reclaim their crown as the best team in the Western Conference, a status they have regularly held, twice via playoff football and three times via the Western Conference league table, since their first season in MLS in 2018.

Inter Miami, who joined MLS two years later in 2020 and signed Messi towards the end of the 2023 season, lurk on the other side of the bracket.

The David Beckham-owned franchise has made it to the conference semifinals for the first time in their history, having suffered a shock round one defeat to Atlanta United last year. Many will be predicting a meeting between Inter Miami and LAFC, Messi and Son, in the 2025 MLS Cup final in December.

The league would certainly be pleased with such a scenario, given the pulling power of Messi and Son, but as we saw last season when these two sides were both knocked out before the conference finals, despite topping their respective conference tables during the regular season, not much is guaranteed in MLS.

What is guaranteed is that LAFC’s game in Vancouver against the Whitecaps will attract plenty of attention. These teams are both recent Concacaf Champions Cup finalists, so they hold a relatively high profile in their own right, even without the marquee Designated Player signings. Son and Müller complement these teams rather than define them, but they will certainly add to the attraction as well as the effectiveness.

Son vs. Müller stats comparison, MLS games only

Son fit in straight away at LAFC, as evidenced by his early output and his combination with Bouanga. His first goal for the club, a free-kick against FC Dallas, won the 2025 MLS Goal of the Year, and he also received the second-most votes for the MLS 2025 Newcomer of the Year award behind runaway winner Anders Dreyer of San Diego FC, despite having played little more than a handful of games when voting took place. Any fears that a dip in form in his latter games with Tottenham Hotspur might continue at his next club were quickly allayed.

Off the pitch, too, it was a good match. There is a large Korean-American community in Los Angeles, making LAFC in many ways the perfect MLS landing spot for the player who captains the East Asian nation and is its most-capped player with 140 international appearances.

He will be present with South Korea at the World Cup in North America next year, where there’s a possibility of his team playing games at the designated Los Angeles stadium, SoFi Stadium, in nearby Inglewood.

But before then, attention turns north to another 2026 World Cup venue, BC Place in Vancouver, which will host this conference semifinal due to the Whitecaps finishing three points ahead of LAFC in the 2025 regular season standings.

The Whitecaps published an article in Korean and English on Thursday celebrating their own Korean former players Lee Young-pyo and Hwang In-beom. It didn’t mention Son by name, but the franchise was clearly aware that much of the attention will be on the opposition player in the coming match and that such a pre-match story would be popular.

BC Place sold out well ahead of time, and an attendance of over 53,000 is expected in the stadium on Canada’s west coast on Saturday night. Thanks to Son, and indeed Müller, there will be an atmosphere that even the World Cup games it hosts might struggle to match.

(Cover Image from IMAGO)

You can follow every match from the MLS Cup playoffs with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including player ratings. Download the free app here.

Son Heung-min is ready to lead the LAFC charge in the MLS Cup playoffs

Son Heung-min has only been playing in Major League Soccer for three and a half months, but has already had a significant impact on his team, Los Angeles FC, and on the league as a whole.

By James Nalton

Since arriving in California in August, Son Heung-min has scored 10 goals in 12 games, including two in the recent best-of-three MLS Cup playoff first round against Austin FC, which LAFC navigated with minimal fuss by winning the first two games.

That saw LAFC advance to a Western Conference semifinal this weekend against the impressive Canadian outfit, Vancouver Whitecaps, who recently signed a marquee player of their own, Thomas Müller.

The single-game knockout playoffs from here until the MLS Cup final add further unpredictability to an already unpredictable league, but the arrival of Son has certainly given LAFC more of a chance. They have lost just once in the 12 games in which he has featured since making his debut against Chicago, winning eight of them, and scoring 30 goals.

Thirteen of those goals were scored by Son’s fellow attacker, Denis Bouanga, who went on a scoring spree following his new teammate’s arrival. It propelled Bouanga up the league’s goalscoring charts, and only Lionel Messi (29) had scored more than the Gabon international’s total of 24 by the end of the regular season.

LAFC will be looking to reclaim their crown as the best team in the Western Conference, a status they have regularly held, twice via playoff football and three times via the Western Conference league table, since their first season in MLS in 2018.

Inter Miami, who joined MLS two years later in 2020 and signed Messi towards the end of the 2023 season, lurk on the other side of the bracket.

The David Beckham-owned franchise has made it to the conference semifinals for the first time in their history, having suffered a shock round one defeat to Atlanta United last year. Many will be predicting a meeting between Inter Miami and LAFC, Messi and Son, in the 2025 MLS Cup final in December.

The league would certainly be pleased with such a scenario, given the pulling power of Messi and Son, but as we saw last season when these two sides were both knocked out before the conference finals, despite topping their respective conference tables during the regular season, not much is guaranteed in MLS.

What is guaranteed is that LAFC’s game in Vancouver against the Whitecaps will attract plenty of attention. These teams are both recent Concacaf Champions Cup finalists, so they hold a relatively high profile in their own right, even without the marquee Designated Player signings. Son and Müller complement these teams rather than define them, but they will certainly add to the attraction as well as the effectiveness.

Son vs. Müller stats comparison, MLS games only

Son fit in straight away at LAFC, as evidenced by his early output and his combination with Bouanga. His first goal for the club, a free-kick against FC Dallas, won the 2025 MLS Goal of the Year, and he also received the second-most votes for the MLS 2025 Newcomer of the Year award behind runaway winner Anders Dreyer of San Diego FC, despite having played little more than a handful of games when voting took place. Any fears that a dip in form in his latter games with Tottenham Hotspur might continue at his next club were quickly allayed.

Off the pitch, too, it was a good match. There is a large Korean-American community in Los Angeles, making LAFC in many ways the perfect MLS landing spot for the player who captains the East Asian nation and is its most-capped player with 140 international appearances.

He will be present with South Korea at the World Cup in North America next year, where there’s a possibility of his team playing games at the designated Los Angeles stadium, SoFi Stadium, in nearby Inglewood.

But before then, attention turns north to another 2026 World Cup venue, BC Place in Vancouver, which will host this conference semifinal due to the Whitecaps finishing three points ahead of LAFC in the 2025 regular season standings.

The Whitecaps published an article in Korean and English on Thursday celebrating their own Korean former players Lee Young-pyo and Hwang In-beom. It didn’t mention Son by name, but the franchise was clearly aware that much of the attention will be on the opposition player in the coming match and that such a pre-match story would be popular.

BC Place sold out well ahead of time, and an attendance of over 53,000 is expected in the stadium on Canada’s west coast on Saturday night. Thanks to Son, and indeed Müller, there will be an atmosphere that even the World Cup games it hosts might struggle to match.

(Cover Image from IMAGO)

You can follow every match from the MLS Cup playoffs with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including player ratings. Download the free app here.