Son Heung-min’s journey toward his first trophy in Major League Soccer (MLS) will start this week in a playoff series against Austin FC.
Son and Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) will host Austin FC in Game 1 of their best-of-three first round at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday (local time), or 11:30 a.m. Thursday (South Korea time). The second game will be in Austin, Texas, at 10:45 a.m. Monday (South Korea time).
If the two clubs split these two matches, LAFC will bring the series back to BMO Stadium next weekend. In this series, matches that are tied after 90 minutes will go directly to the penalties to determine the winner, without playing a 30-minute extra session.
LAFC qualified for the playoffs as No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, while Austin FC finished sixth in the regular season.
Austin FC beat LAFC twice in the regular-season meetings, both by a 1-0 score, but Son did not play in either match. The first one was played in March, five months before Son joined the MLS club. The next match was held in October while Son was with the South Korean national team for international friendlies at home.
And Son’s midseason arrival — three months after he had captained Tottenham Hotspur to the UEFA Europa League title — has morphed LAFC into a strong title contender, as the South Korean star has developed lethal partnership with Denis Bouanga up front.
Son and Bouanga combined to score 20 goals in the 10 regular-season matches together since Son’s signing, including an MLS-record 18 straight goals between them in one stretch. Son himself had nine goals and three assists in those 10 contests.
Led by this dynamic duo, LAFC had six wins, one draw and one loss to close out the regular season. LAFC finished second in the conference with 65 goals.
Austin FC, though, only scored 37 times, the lowest total in the 15-team conference and they had a minus-8 goal difference, the worst mark among Western Conference playoff clubs.
