Son Heung-min (33) was not listed. Although Son Heung-min recorded the decisive assist in Los Angeles FC's (LAFC) dramatic draw, MLS's official assessment looked elsewhere.
Major League Soccer (MLS) on the 6th (KST) released its power rankings through round 11 on its official website. With the San Jose Earthquakes ranked first, the Vancouver Whitecaps were second and Nashville SC third. LAFC remained fourth for the third straight match.
LAFC drew 2-2 with San Diego in the 2026 MLS Western Conference round 11 away match at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego on the 3rd. LAFC, which added one point, remained third in the Western Conference with six wins, three draws and two losses, totaling 21 points.
LAFC was not at full strength that day. Coach Mark Dos Santos made many rotations ahead of the second leg of the 2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup semi-final away match against Deportivo Toluca at Estadio Nemesio Diez in Toluca, Mexico, on the 7th. Son Heung-min also started on the bench rather than in the starting lineup.
The match flow was not easy. LAFC conceded consecutive goals to Marcus Ingvartsen in the 7th minute of the first half and the 26th minute of the second half, falling behind 0-2. It seemed the away match was heading toward defeat. But Son Heung-min, who was introduced in the 15th minute of the second half, changed the momentum.
Son Heung-min assisted Deni Bouanga's consolation goal in the 37th minute of the second half. LAFC kept the spark of the comeback alive with Son Heung-min's assist, and Ryan Hollingshead scored a dramatic equalizer in stoppage time of the second half to make it 2-2. It was the moment that turned a near-certain defeat into one point.
Coach Dos Santos also praised the contributions of the substitutes after the match. He said, "The players who were brought on injected tremendous energy into the team. They immediately added vigor to the extent that you could tell who they were without naming them," praising the players' mentality for not giving up until the end. It essentially meant that the second-half substitutes, including Son Heung-min, changed the game's atmosphere.
Still, Son Heung-min's name did not appear in the MLS power rankings comments. MLS noted that LAFC has only one match left to reach the CONCACAF Champions Cup final for the third time since 2020. It also viewed positively that LAFC would travel to Toluca holding a one-goal advantage.
The player highlighted as key was Bouanga. MLS evaluated that because Toluca would need to push their line up to score, Bouanga's quick counterattacks could be a major weapon. That analysis is correct. Bouanga is a certain card in LAFC's attack. But considering that the player who assisted Bouanga's goal in the previous match was Son Heung-min, it is inevitably regrettable.
Son Heung-min showed his presence even when he was not a starter. Despite limited playing time, he changed the attacking flow and created the starting point of the counterattack in a match that LAFC nearly collapsed in. However, that contribution was not sufficiently highlighted in the official power rankings. LAFC's ranking remained unchanged, and Son Heung-min's name was absent.
In the end, Son Heung-min must prove himself again on the field. MLS's assessment was quiet, but the fact that LAFC faces important fixtures does not change. If Son Heung-min creates another decisive moment in the away match at Toluca, it will be hard for anyone to leave his name out then.
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