LAFC, with Son Heung-min, is wobbling endlessly. Early in the season the team was considered a top MLS contender, but now even a direct playoff spot is under threat. Three consecutive league losses, four straight official defeats, and a fall to 10th in the MLS power rankings. In just three months the mood has completely flipped and local fans' anger is growing.
Major League Soccer (MLS) announced its latest power rankings after the conclusion of round 14 on the 21st (Korea time). LAFC sat at 10th, down from the previous ranking. Considering that the team had, early in the season, routed Inter Miami 3-0 and was even rated first overall in the league, this is a shocking decline.
At the time the Mark Dos Santos coaching regime looked successful. Son Heung-min's goal tally was lower than expected, but the team's performance itself was very stable. In fact, LAFC had been on a tear since the opener without tasting defeat, and the Son Heung-min and Deni Bouanga pairing was also rated the league's best attacking line. But when the CONCACAF Champions Cup tournament began, the mood began to wobble sharply. Questions grew about how Son Heung-min and Bouanga were being used, and the match content became increasingly frustrating.
The decisive moment was the Toluca match. LAFC suffered a shocking elimination after a 0-4 loss to Toluca in the second leg of the Champions Cup semifinal, and afterward completely lost direction in the league. Starting with a 1-4 loss to the Houston Dynamo, it continued with a 1-2 loss to St. Louis and a 2-3 loss to Nashville, sliding into a slump of three consecutive league defeats and four straight official losses. A team that once contended for the top of the Western Conference had fallen to seventh place.
MLS also directly mentioned LAFC's crisis. The league said, "LAFC has lost consecutive matches to St. Louis and Nashville and earned only one point in its last four games," and "as a result, their Western Conference ranking has dropped to seventh."
This is an unfamiliar situation for Son Heung-min. It is his first time experiencing three consecutive league losses on the MLS stage, and there were matches in which he did not record a single shot all game. It is also the first time that LAFC, which dominated the league early in the season, has fallen to 10th in the power rankings in just a few months.
Fans' attention has naturally turned to coach Dos Santos. Especially after the Nashville match, Deni Bouanga's remarks further unsettled the local mood. Bouanga said after the match, "It is a difficult season for both Son Heung-min and me. We are playing in a different way than last year," and "I play much deeper than Son Heung-min, and every time I get the ball I try to find Son Heung-min, but that's not easy."
As the controversy grew, Bouanga explained on social media that he did not intend to criticize the coach and coaching staff, but fans' trust had already been shaken. Local fans responded, "I can't understand using Son Heung-min and Bouanga like this," "The problem is the coach," and "This team has lost its way."
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