LAFC coach, teammates gush over Son Heung-min following victory
Son Heung-min of Los Angeles Football Club is in action against New England Revolution during the clubs' Major League Soccer match at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., U.S., Saturday. Reuters-Yonhap
Son Heung-min has only played a match and a half for Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) since joining them less than two weeks ago, but the Korean superstar has already made a strong impression on his coaching staff and teammates.
After making his Major League Soccer (MLS) debut as a second-half sub against Chicago FC on Aug. 9, Son got his first start for LAFC against New England Revolution in Foxborough, Massachusetts, on Saturday (local time). The forward earned his first MLS assist by setting up Mathieu Choiniere's stoppage-time goal en route to a 2-0 LAFC victory.
At the postmatch press conference, LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo reserved high praise for Son for "his quality and his intelligence out on the field."
"He's one of the few players who has that intelligence and experience, and has the technical and physical capabilities to combine it all, and that's what you see," Cherundolo said. "The 120 minutes we've seen of Sonny with LAFC have been excellent, and it's definitely a great foundation now to build and to get better. And the more he plays, the better the teammates will get to know him and what he's capable of."
Son signed with LAFC after 10 seasons with Tottenham Hotspur. He won the 2021-2022 Premier League Golden Boot as the competition's top scorer and netted 173 goals in all competitions during his decade in Europe.
Though Son mostly thrived on the left wing for Spurs, Cherundolo started Son in the middle, flanked by Denis Bouanga and David Martinez. The coach said he likes Son's ability to control the pace of the attack at will and create chances with his wingers.
"Tonight is a great example of what he can do for us through the middle," Cherundolo added. "He and (Denis Bouanga) combined very well. I have no problem with those two switching positions for 10 minutes or a couple of minutes or continuously throughout the game. But for us as a group, he's at the moment more valuable through the middle than he is on the flank."
Marco Delgado, who started as a central midfielder behind Son and scored LAFC's first goal, said Son's ability to "keep the fluidity of the game going" has been a great help.
"He makes great runs in behind as well. He's always looking to be an option," Delgado said. "Before Sonny, we did have lots of ups and downs, but I think the addition of Sonny here is going to bring everything together. He's just working really hard, covering ground, staying connected to the group. He's just that missing piece that we've been looking for. It's just a joy to share the same field with him."
Choiniere, who came in for Delgado in the 79th minute, said Son made "a perfect pass" for him for the team's second goal.
"He makes life easier for everybody on the pitch," the Canadian midfielder said. "He's just making sure that the quickest we know him, the quickest he's going to score, and I hope he's going to score for us soon. We are waiting for this, but you can see without even scoring, he is affecting the game so much."
Cherundolo, Delgado and Choiniere all touched upon Son's positive energy off the field and during training sessions, commenting on how that attitude has rubbed off on the rest of the club.
"Since he arrived at the club, he's been amazing with everybody," Choiniere said. "He's a guy who's always happy, easy to talk to, and he's sharing his experience with us on and off the pitch. When he talks, you listen."
Delgado said Son is "always motivating the boys and keeping this positive attitude."
"Just always pushing everyone, and he's doing his part as well," Delgado added. "So you just kind of feed off each other, feed off of his energy as well. Sonny has the right attitude, given the travel and the conditions that we're going to be playing in, not thinking too much about it and just going out there and working really hard."
Cherundolo also said the travel across North America through different time zones and the congested match schedule could be the type of challenge for Son that he hadn't experienced in Europe. But the coach didn't think Son would have any other problem in MLS.
"He brings a smile to work every day, which I find very important in my work, something that I try to do as well," the coach said. "I think that is what you get. You get a happy player and a highly motivated player, a good communicator with the group, which is very important. And then on top of that, you're getting all of his technical ability, his speed, his finishing, his experience that he's gained over all these years. And so it's an amazing pickup for us, and we're delightful to have him in LA."