Credit must be given to Son Heung-min for playing an important role in the opening of the Los Angeles Football Club’s ninth season in Honduras on Tuesday.
Following the arrival of the South Korean superstar last August, LAFC went from averaging 1.6 points per game to a solid two in a dozen MLS games to close out the 2025 regular season.
That late attack brought LAFC within 60 points, which proved enough to claim the last spot among MLS teams participating in the latest version of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
After winning the Supporters’ Shield for the first time in 2019, a team led by Bob Bradley in 2020 was the first to represent LAFC in a continental competition that remains key to its global ambitions.
Losing 2-0 at León in their opening match preceded a famous 3-0 return win at Exposition Park and one of the first pieces of club lore. LAFC finished second behind Mexico’s Tigres UANL after the tournament, postponed and shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, culminated at a neutral site in Orlando in December.
The Black & Gold did not have the opportunity again until 2023.
Steve Cherundolo’s second season, following a stellar debut that added Supporters’ Shield No. 2 and an MLS Cup championship to the club’s trophy case, produced another second-place finish in CONCACAF as León exacted revenge at BMO Stadium.
The following year, lifting the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup secured LAFC’s spot in the CCC for what turned out to be Cherundolo’s Aloha season. Two weeks after losing in the quarterfinals to Lionel Messi and Inter Miami, the American coach announced his plans to leave at the end of 2025.
Still, a flurry of moves during the summer window made LAFC among the obvious favorites to compete for the league championship, primarily because Son’s influence made Cherundolo’s defense and transition tactics lethal.
A team that played more pragmatic and less adventurous compared to Bradley’s high-flying groups was suddenly taking its opponents off the field without compromising its defensive shape around goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, one of two MLS goaltenders with 10 or more shutouts on the season.
As Son combined with Denis Bouanga, the most dangerous attacker in MLS for three consecutive years, the club accounted for 19 of its last 22 goals in the regular season (plus four of six in the postseason) thanks to them.
Any chemistry needed for incredible players to come together existed immediately, and the remaining outfield players worked hard to support them, defend and create opportunities to put the ball behind opponents on counterattacks.
This particularly demanding style required a level of effort that Cherundolo’s teams sometimes did not achieve.
Starting with Stage 1 of the CONCACAF round of 16 against 12-time Honduran champions Real España at the Estadio General Francisco Morazán in San Pedro Sula, an optimal approach (drawing in defenders by maintaining a low block and exploiting spaces behind defenders with pace and transition) is expected from new head coach Marc Dos Santos in 2026.
As an assistant to Bradley and Cherundolo, Dos Santos’ first-choice tactic will be to possess the ball, counter-press and defend as far away from the LAFC goal as possible, thus dominating games while attacking more inside with a 4-2-3-1 formation.
In the preseason this was the primary message for a squad that returns more than 20 players from last year, notably more than recent groups.
“I felt like it was good because the players were very open to it,” Dos Santos, 48, said. “When you have a group that is open and wants to do things, it’s easier. It’s not just me selling an idea that I believe in. It’s me selling an idea that they also believe in. That makes the preparation easier.”
LAFC co-president and general manager John Thorrington suggested a few weeks ago that players were embracing the changes.
Dos Santos, a Montreal native, said the same thing.
As is midfielder Timothy Tillman, who operated as an attacking midfielder – a “10” – in this camp, which is indicative of the type of adjustments Dos Santos and his coaching staff have instilled in how LAFC intends to play in 2026.
Venezuelan talent David Martínez, 20, should also perform well in this role, after inconsistency on the wing.
Canadian international Stephen Eustáquio is possibly the most important piece to arrive in the winter. With young Brazilian defensive midfielder Igor Jesus recovering from ACL surgery until after the FIFA World Cup, a six-month loan from Portugal’s FC Porto positions Eustáquio as a critical player.
“It’s an incredible opportunity for us, not only as a midfielder but also as a leader,” Dos Santos said. “He’s a coach on the field.”
The core of key contributors during Cherundolo’s tenure plus the remaining players from the class who arrived in the same window as Son (central defender Ryan Porteous and midfielder Mathieu Choinière) have been bolstered by transfers that align with how Dos Santos envisions LAFC challenging its opponents.
Increasing the speed of his forwards, Jacob Shaffelburg (sidelined at least until next month as he recovers from groin surgery) along with Tyler Boyd and talented Swedish under-22 attacker Amin Boudri, another option at number 10, illustrate where Dos Santos believes his lineup can lead.
LAFC in REAL ESPAÑA
That: CONCACAF Champions Cup, Round 1, first leg
When: Tuesday, 7 pm Pacific Time
Where: General Francisco Morazán Stadium, San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Television/Radio: FS2, TUDN, 710 BC. M., 980 BC M., 1230 BC M.
