Fire, LAFC draw on Son’s MLS debut

Chicago Fire 2-2 LAFC

BRIDGEVIEW, IL—On a hot and humid night at SeatGeek Stadium, a crowd of 19,831 came out to see Son Heung-Min’s debut with LAFC as they and the Fire would draw 2-2 on the evening. 

Son would enter play in the 61st minute and play 30 minutes, plus nine minutes of stoppage time. He would be a key role in one of the goals of which this report shall explain later. 

The Fire got on the board first off a corner kick. Phillip Zinckernagel sent the corner kick into the area and Carlos Teran was there to head it is just beyond the grasp of Hugo Lloris. Eight minutes later, though, LAFC would get a goal headed in off a corner themselves as Ryan Hollingshead headed in a David Martinez corner. It initially appeared as though Hugo Cuypers had headed the ball off the line, but the ball had already crossed the plane of the goal line and the assistant referee was there to indicate that it had. 

Scores were even until the 70th minute when on a counter attack, Zinckernagel fed Jonatham Bamba who put the ball into the upper 90 to restore the Fire’s advantage. The Fire had a chance to make it 3-1 in the 77th minute, but Lloris would deny Cuypers and then Gutierrez would shoot the ball off the post. 

The ensuing counter attack resulted in Son going down in the box, and initially play on, but VAR saw that Teran made contact with Son and not the ball and a penalty was awarded. Denis Bouanga would convert the spot kick to make it 2-2. 

That was how it ended as the Fire remain ninth in the East and LAFC move a spot up the West to fifth with Portland losing at FC Dallas. 

To Fire head coach Gregg Berhalter, this was a game of moments and both teams had them and mixed feelings about the result.

“I think it’s mixed, mixed feelings,” said Berhalter. “I talked to the guys about– in preseason, in Coachella, this was our first game that we played, the first real competitive game. And what we wanted to do is, you know, see where we’re at. We had, how many games since then, 28 games or something? Three preseason plus the 25? And we want to be able to see how much progress we made. And I think the team is making a ton of progress. You see the level of that game today was a good standing, good level game.

“So with that side, happy that we made progress, but really disappointing not to get those three points. Any time you lead twice at home, you’d love to come away with three points. It’s a good team, but I think it would have really helped our confidence to get the three.”

Meanwhile, Son was very eager to play with his new team right away and was able to do so after receiving his visa. 

“This was an exciting time for a whole week joining LAFC, it was huge,” said Son. “There was only one thing I wanted to do and today, being on the pitch, I think it was fantastic. With the result it’s a little bit disappointing, because I think we should’ve gotten three points here, but generally I think I’m very, very happy and excited.”

The reception he received from some in the crowd at SeatGeek Stadium, where there were cheers for his presence as well as some South Korean flags in the stands, was something he was not all that used to back when playing away games.

“I really enjoyed it. You never had this welcoming from away fans. I used to play in the Premier League. When I played at away grounds they were always booing me and always booing the players. But it was nice to see people were celebrating, people were enjoying the football.”

This was also a reunion of sorts with goalkeeper Hugo Lloris who joined LAFC the previous year after 12 years at Tottenham Hotspur with Son being present for nine of them.

“What can I say?” said Son. “The best feeling I had. So I’ve been playing with him eight years togetherat Spurs. So being here with him, and obviously, we get a little bit older than where I started at Spurs, so we both are more experienced and then I can share more my feeling and we can help the young boys, and I think we say it’s a fantastic feeling.

“Hugo still for me has unbelievable ability on his skills. So, yeah, he’s huge for, for our team. And for me, I always said that when I play with Hugo, it’s a huge honor for me to play alongside with him.”

LAFC’s next match is at New England on Saturday (4:30pm PT, Apple TV). The Fire return to SeatGeek Stadium next Saturday as well to host St. Louis (7:30pm CT, Apple TV). 

Photos by Leslie Smith (Editor’s note:  More photos are coming later on Sunday.)

SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Carlos Teran (Zinckernagel) 11
LAFC-Ryan Hollingshead (Martinez) 19
CHI-Jonathan Bamba (Zinckernagel) 70
LAFC-Denis Bouanga (penalty kick) 81

BOOKING SUMMARY:
CHI-Brian Gutierrez (caution, reckless foul) 24
CHI-Phillip Zinckernagel (caution, dangerous play) 62
LAFC-Nikosi Tafari (caution, tactical foul) 64
LAFC-Eddie Segura (caution, tactical foul) 71
CHI-Carlos Teran (caution, tactical foul) 80
CHI-Chris Brady (caution, dissent) 81

CHICAGO FIRE (4-2-3-1):  #1-Chris Brady; #15-Andrew Gutman (#24-Jonathan Dean 62), #4-Carlos Teran, #3-Jack Elliott, #2-Leonardo Barroso; #35-Sergio Oregel (#23-Kellyn Acosta 88), #17-Brian Gutierrez, #42-Dje D’Avilla (#22-Mauricio Pineda 88); #19-Jonathan Bamba, #9-Hugo Cuypers, #11-Phillip Zinckernagel (#7-Maren Haile-Selassie 88)

Subs not used:  #25-Jeff Gal, #34-Omar Gonzalez, #12-Tom Barlow, #48-Trip Fleming, #47-Sam Williams

LOS ANGELES FC (3-5-2):  #1-Hugo Lloris; #91-Nikosi Tafari, #4-Eddie Segura, #14-Sergi Palencia; #24-Ryan Hollingshead (#29-Artem Smolyakov 74), #8-Marky Delgado (#23-Frankie Amaya 74), #11-Tim Tillman, #6-Igor Jesus, #66-Maxime Choiniere (#99-Denis Bouanga 46); #27-Nathan Ordaz, #30-David Martinez (#7-Son Heung-Min 61)

Subs not used:  #12-Thomas Hasal, #20-Yaw Yeboah, #43-Adam Saldana, #21-Ryan Raposo, #45-Kenneth Nielsen

EXPECTED GOALS:  CHI 1.1-2.0 LAFC
TOTAL SHOTS:  CHI 10-12 LAFC
SHOTS ON GOAL:  CHI 3-6 LAFC
FOULS:  CHI 7-10 LAFC
OFFSIDES:  CHI 0-0 LAFC
CORNER KICKS:  CHI 1-6 LAFC
SAVES:  CHI 4-1 LAFC

Referee:  Ricardo Montero Araya
Assistant Referees:  Jason White, Walt Heatherly
Fourth Official:  Muhammas Hassan
VAR:  Edvin Jurisevic
AVAR:  Mark Allatin
Weather:  Mostly Clear and 87º
Attendance:  19,831
Man of the Match:  Chris Brady (CHI)