CARSON — Standing at the penalty spot on Friday night with the ball tucked underneath his left arm, Son Heung-min was poised to score his first goal for the Los Angeles Football Club this MLS season.
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But moments before the halftime whistle for Son’s El Tráfico debut, the South Korean superstar turned and handed the ball off to Denis Bouanga.
Son hadn’t earned the foul – Bouanga did that when he was kicked in the box – and he wasn’t going to take the penalty. Instead, Son provided his attacking partner some cover and a chance to collect himself, which paid off when Bouanga connected in a franchise-record seventh consecutive showdown against the Galaxy.
“I wanted to mess with the players because they were coming and said a little bit of bad words,” Son said following his team’s 3-0 victory at Dignity Health Sports Park. “So dealing with all the stuff and Denis can take the penalty with a free mind, that was my plan.”
LAFC head coach Marc Dos Santos lists Bouanga and Son as penalty takers and leaves it up to them to decide on the field. That role usually belongs to Bouanga, but not always. During the club’s first game of the year, a mid-February CONCACAF Champions Cup opener in Honduras, Bouanga deferred to Son, who scored.
This time, Son opted to run interference.
“They’re like two brothers and they spoke,” Dos Santos said, “and it ended up Denis taking it.”
Match stats won’t count the moment as an assist – Son entered the contest tied for the MLS lead with nine – yet it was very much in keeping with the recently-turned 34-year-old forward’s first full campaign for the Black & Gold.
Operating more as a facilitator than the heat-seeking goal machine he played like following his arrival in Los Angeles last summer, Son’s drought in MLS lasted from February through May, when the league paused for eight weeks to accommodate the World Cup.
Upon returning to competition against LAFC’s city rival, Son stepped on the field with the weight of World Cup disappointment on his shoulders. Ousted from the competition after three group stage games in Mexico, Son’s scoring woes persisted for South Korea.
“Representing your country and having tough results like that, I just want to be back as soon as possible because I just love doing what I do,” Son said.
Read more LAFC shuts out Galaxy in first El Trafico of the season
“Even after the World Cup I was having a break and my thoughts was on the Galaxy,” he said. “I just wanted to be part of it. I wanted to win there. And today we did. And be back scoring goals. And winning with a clean sheet I think is going to be really helpful for our confidence through the second part of the season.”
Prior to the World Cup, Son promised that he hadn’t forgotten how to put the ball in the back of the net, and he remained outwardly confident that goals would come again. His teammates certainly never stopped believing they would. Whenever Son scored in training, folks like midfielder Mark Delgado, who got LAFC on the board, would invariably let the former Premier League star know that that’s exactly what they needed from him.
Son’s breakthrough didn’t happen in the 15th minute when his shot was blocked. Or when he dashed toward the 6-yard box and took a foot to the head at the half-hour mark. Or before the half when Bouanga crossed a good ball to him that ended in a loose volley. Or in the 49th minute when a shot on target was easily saved.
But he did not give up and for the first time since tallying a pair during a playoff match against the Vancouver Whitecaps last November, Son made the most of his initial El Tráfico, finding paydirt with his right foot and leaving no doubt about the outcome or LAFC’s potential for the second half of the year.
In doing so, Son, who had 10 days off after South Korea’s demise, reminded everyone just how dangerous LAFC can be if he starts scoring at a regular clip.
“In our bubble we’re so together, but then outside the bubble there’s so many comments and people crying, you know?” Dos Santos said. “We know what we want to do together. When you have that togetherness as a team and as a group you just feel good for a guy like him. He deserves coming back from an emotional World Cup.”
When son’s shot rippled the net, his teammates on the pitch and on the bench roared with delight. When he exited the match in the 76th minute he received hugs and high-fives. And when the match was over, as LAFC players recognized their traveling supporters who were jammed together among a crowd of 24,375, several of Son’s teammates tussled his well-coiffed hair.
“To see him score and put the ball in the net and see his face light up with a smile is awesome,” Delgado said. “We all want to see him succeed here. We all want him to lead this club like we know he can. So, yeah, great person. We all want the best for him.”
Read more LAFC shuts out Galaxy in first El Trafico of the season