You wouldn’t be wrong if perhaps you noticed that I’ve not been paying as much attention to the MLS season as I have in the past. To say it’s been pretty much tepid for most of the interminably long stretch that began in late February would be an understatement, especially since most of the teams I’m especially invested in have been at best OK and some downright putrid. A quick look at the standings with just two Saturdays remaining shows my InterMiami team expected to win its conference a disappointing third, NYCFC , Seattle and Portland decidedly in the middle of their respective packs and the New York Red Bulls and especially the LA Galaxy embarassingly in the bottom four of the 30-team league.
And on pure performance alone LAFC doesn’t appear to be all that different. But they’ve had a recent renaissance that are making them that much more exciting and compelling, and in a market that’s dominated by the likes of Shohei Ohtani the source of that attention is especially celebratory and opportunistic. Witness what ATHLON SPORTS’ penned last week:
When Lionel Messi shocked the world by joining Inter Miami, it wasn’t just about him playing in the MLS it was about how far the league was willing to go to bring in a superstar of his stature. Special perks, unique contract clauses, and benefits no ordinary player would ever see quickly became part of the package. Fast forward a few years, and MLS finds itself in a similar spot. This time, it’s Heung-Min Son making the move, and just like Messi, he’s not being treated like your average signing. In fact, LAFC is reportedly rolling out the red carpet and offering the Spurs legend a set of privileges that feel straight out of the Messi playbook. For fans, the message is clear: the league is ready to bend the rules for another global icon, and Son is about to step into a role with almost Messi-esque powers in Los Angeles.
Reports out of Los Angeles suggest that LAFC have given Son Heung-min a say in shaping the squad, even asking him to recommend potential signings… For LAFC, Son isn’t just the star striker leading the line he’s now seen as someone who can help attract big names and add real weight to the club’s long-term vision.
And as THE ATHLETIC’s Charlie Davies also noted at roughly the same time, bringing immediate results to the team and already creating a distinct halo effect is certainly enhancing the likelihood of those efforts bearing fruit:
I don’t think we have ever seen a strike duo in MLS enjoy a start quite like Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga. And if they can take their current form into the playoffs, LAFC are going to be an extremely difficult out in the battle for MLS Cup.
Son and Bouanga have now set the MLS record for successive goals by a pairing, with all 17 of LAFC’s goals in the past six games coming from the dangerous tandem. Steve Cherundolo’s side is on a four game winning streak, and that run has included two hat tricks for Bouanga and one for his South Korean partner.
Bouanga is on 23 goals for this season, just one behind Lionel Messi in the race for the MLS Golden Boot – something the Gabon international won in 2023 – while Son is averaging a goal per game (eight goals in eight appearances) since joining the club from Tottenham in August.
They clearly have a great understanding already and crucially have shown a real delight in each other’s goals, displaying unselfishness in setting each other up for chances.
And last night, in a rare weeknight tilt being played a mere few exits south of the 101-5 interchange where Ohtani and fellow countryman Yoshinobu Yamamoto were unsuccessful in getting the Dodgers through to the NLCS, the rest of LAFC took an opportunity to reinforce that they’re also basking in the afterglow of renaissance that this Rising Son has provided–or so sayeth the ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER’s Josh Gross:
Playing without Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-min on Wednesday night, someone else needed to score for LAFC to win a sixth straight game and keep its Western Conference title hopes alive. It turns out, there was nothing to worry about. Jeremy Ebobisse and Frankie Amaya helped seal a simple 2-0 victory over Toronto FC, lifting LAFC (17-7-8, 59 points) above Minnesota United to third place in the West, within one point of San Diego (18-9-6) and Vancouver (17-6-9) for the top spot.
As the rest of MLS watched the makeup game – their scheduled contest on June 13 was postponed when LAFC qualified for the Club World Cup – Cherundolo’s group produced its 62nd and 63rd goals of the season, leaving them one short of becoming the league’s quickest to 500. While the headlines in recent weeks belonged to the Bouanga-Son duo, LAFC continued to play stingy defense, improving its streak without conceding a goal to 346 minutes.
Making their LAFC and MLS debuts, Romanian forward Alexandru Băluță and Brazilian midfielder Jailson saw their first game action late in the second half in front of an announced crowd of 22,020 for Cherundolo’s final regular-season home game, closing with an 11-4-2 record in 2025 and 45-11-12 after four years in charge.
Maybe you weren’t paying attention, and I confess neither was I until recently. But numbers like all that are pretty enviable–especially the part about more than 22 thousand showing up for a weeknight makeup game head-to-head with post-season baseball.
Which means I’m most def sitting up and taking notice for as long as LAFC and their budding superstar can last this fall. And by this city’s standards, they’ve overdue. I mean, they last won an MLS cup in 2022. Crikey!
Courage…