Less than a week after signing with LAFC, star forward Son Heung-min made his much-awaited debut — and it didn’t take him long to make an impact.
Son, who signed with the MLS club last week after a decade at Tottenham Hotspur, stepped onto an MLS pitch for the first time in LAFC’s match against the Chicago Fire on Saturday. Son subbed into the game in the 61st minute, immediately earning cheers from the crowd at Chicago’s SeatGeek Stadium.
At the time Son subbed in, the game was at 1-1, with goals from Chicago’s Carlos Terán (11th minute) and LAFC’s Ryan Hollingshead (19th). A goal from Fire forward Jonathan Bamba gave Chicago the advantage in the 70th minute.
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But as the game approached the 80th minute, Son went down in the penalty box off a foul from Terán. Though the referee originally let play continue, the foul was later called to VAR, with the officials ruling for an LAFC penalty kick and a yellow card for Terán.
Denis Bouanga, who had subbed in for LAFC at halftime, took the penalty, burying the shot into the back of the net to bring L.A. even with Chicago.
In his first minutes in an LAFC uniform, Son quickly made an impact: In addition to drawing the penalty, he had three shots in the draw. Son had a few clear opportunities, but Chicago keeper Chris Brady was able to get the relatively easy saves on those chances.
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This kind of instant impact is exactly what LAFC was hoping for in the signing, paying out an MLS-record $26.5 million transfer fee to bring Son from Tottenham. It took only six days for Son to play his first LAFC minutes after signing with the team, and only one game for him to help lift the team to a point.
For Son, it also marked a key opportunity to join the American market — with the Korean forward already receiving a very warm welcome from Los Angeles ahead of his debut.
With the draw, LAFC is holding in fifth place in a very busy Western Conference, tied with the Portland Timbers and only one point behind the Seattle Sounders. LAFC also has three games in hand behind the team at the top of the West, San Diego FC, which currently leads with 49 points but has played 26 regular-season matches to 23 for L.A.
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