LAFC coach says Son Heung-min brings 'intensity, quality' to team, MLS

Son Heung-min of Los Angeles Football Club, second from left, celebrates with teammate Denis Bouanga, second from right, after scoring a goal against Real Salt Lake during the clubs' Major League Soccer match at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, Sept. 21. Yonhap

Only seven matches into his career with Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC), Son Heung-min has already made a massive impact on his Major League Soccer (MLS) side with six goals and two assists.

After Son recorded a goal and an assist in a 4-1 victory over Real Salt Lake at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on Sunday (local time), LAFC head coach Steve Cherundolo also highlighted some intangibles that the Korean superstar has brought to his club.

"Two very simple words: intensity and quality," Cherundolo said in his postmatch press conference. "Those moments in a player, in any player, are what makes the difference. If you watch games at the highest level, every player in the field has intensity and quality together. That combination is lethal, and Sonny brings exactly that to our team and to our league."

Son had a hat trick last week against Real Salt Lake in an away match, before scoring another one against the same team during first-half stoppage time of Sunday's win. Counting his goal against San Jose Earthquakes on Sept. 13, Son has found the back of the net in three straight matches.

His fellow attacker Denis Bouanga netted three goals in Sunday's win for his second hat trick in three matches. With Son's own hat trick being sandwiched by those two, LAFC became the first team in MLS history to have a player record a hat trick in three straight contests.

Cherundolo said the duo's goal scoring prowess helps the team in other ways, too.

"When two attackers are both prolific as they are, it gives the rest of the team energy," the coach said. "It gives their defensive work and their suffering purpose. And that is very important. If you are a defender, you will run gladly for 100 minutes, however long we play, if your attackers are finishing plays like Denis and Sonny are finishing plays."

Midfielder Mark Delgado noted how Son and Bouanga are making life easier for their teammates.

"Knowing that you have quality up top, you can just create fluidity in the midfield, knowing Sonny's going to be there and Denis is being a threat in behind but also connecting well with Sonny," Delgado said. "So it just makes our job a lot easier."

Bouanga said his chemistry with Son has been "very easy."

"I don't really have a word to describe it because it's natural," the Frenchman said through an interpreter. "You see it now, and you're going to see it until the end of the season, for sure."