'Tightly tied up' Son Heung-min receives harsh 6.1 rating, only one shot 'another poor performance'... 'No solution in sight' for LAFC

*This content was translated by AI.

It seems there is simply no solution. Son Heung-min's (34) team, Los Angeles FC (LAFC), has fallen into a serious slump in its performance.

On the 20th at 10:30 a.m. (Korean time), LAFC lost 0-1 in an away match of the 2026 U.S. Major League Soccer (MLS) regular season held at Dick's Sporting Goods Park in Colorado.

LAFC's recent form is nothing short of a total crisis. After suffering the humiliation of being eliminated from the group stage of the Leagues Cup, the team recorded back-to-back 0-1 scoreless defeats against San Diego on the 16th and this match against Colorado.

Even considering that main striker Son Heung-min and Denis Bouanga started on the bench, the performance was shocking. LAFC was pushed around for all 90 minutes against mid-table Colorado, objectively considered a tier below them. In the 79th minute of the second half, Son Heung-min and Bouanga were simultaneously substituted in to break the frustrating flow, but they failed to find any opening in the attack.

Son Heung-min was also isolated within the team's lifeless flow. After drawing a foul seven minutes into stoppage time, he took his only shot of the day in the eighth minute of stoppage time just before the final whistle, receiving a pass from Mark Delgado and striking with his left foot from mid-range. The ball headed toward the upper left corner of the goal but was saved by the goalkeeper. Aside from that mid-range shot taken in frustration, he created no threatening scenes at all.

The statistics also reveal the dire reality of the attacking line. According to football statistics specialist 'FootMob', Son Heung-min's expected goals (xG) for this match were a mere 0.02. With the ball failing to reach the forward areas at all, the attack struggled even to secure shooting opportunities.

Ultimately, 'FootMob' gave Son Heung-min, who did not show much activity, a harsh rating of 6.1 points, while Bouanga received a practically failing grade of 5.8 points.

Not only the attack but also the defense was severely shaken. The match could have ended in a heavy defeat without goalkeeper Cabral Carter's saves. Carter recorded no fewer than five decisive saves, including stopping a penalty kick late in the first half, earning him the team's highest rating.

For Son Heung-min personally, he is continuing an exhausting schedule that has pushed him to his physical limits. Starting with the match against Vancouver on the 2nd, he played through a tight schedule of matches every three to four days, appearing in as many as six consecutive games up to this Colorado match. Amidst this grueling schedule, Son Heung-min has remained silent in official matches for five consecutive games since the Vancouver match on the 2nd.

However, neither LAFC nor Son Heung-min has time to catch their breath. LAFC is set to face Portland Timbers in an MLS regular season showdown on the 23rd.

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*This content was translated by AI.