Son Heung-Min was probably just joking in a casual moment with an old friend.
Then again, if you’re the sort who believes superstars of that caliber never switch off and never waste a word, it might have sounded like a declaration of intent.
LAFC’s Korean icon visited his beloved former club Tottenham Hotspur in December, just days after Lionel Messi led Inter Miami CF to the 2025 MLS Cup title, and caught up with his Spurs pal Cristian ‘Cuti’ Romero, a teammate of Messi’s on the Argentina national team.
“I let Messi win this year,” wisecracked Son, “but next year … we’ll be at the top.”
Clash of legends
A plain truth sits at the root of that friendly banter. Thanks to Son’s otherworldly talents, the dynamite attacking bromance he’s struck up with Denis Bouanga and the sturdily-built squad behind them, LAFC are on a short list of MLS adversaries who can legitimately harbor the same scope of trophy ambitions as Messi and his Herons in 2026.
That’s a big part of what makes their season-opening clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where a massive, potentially record-breaking crowd north of 70,000 fans is expected for the Walmart Saturday Showdown, so enticing (9:30 pm ET | Apple TV).
“Sonny is just a competitor, and he's a guy that immediately gets connected with the guys in the locker room. He's part of the banter from day one,” LAFC defender Ryan Hollingshead told MLSsoccer.com shortly after Son’s arrival last August.
“He's got that sort of personality that just wants to buy into the club and the DNA and everything that LAFC is. And so I think you can see that in the way that he just took off from the first match, he has been playing at a super high level, has been understanding our style of play at a high level.
“Understanding the league like he already does, he's a handful for these defenders, and I don't know who's going to stop him, honestly.”
Son Effect
The core of the Black & Gold’s roster has reached five major finals over the past four seasons, winning two of them, and now they’ll have a full campaign of Son, who bagged 12g/4a in his first 13 MLS appearances last year, a stretch in which they went 8W-1L-4D. He’s already off to a prolific start this year, posting a goal and a hat trick of assists in Tuesday’s 6-1 victory over Honduran side Real España in the first leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup Round One series.
It’s not just the vibes and the goal contributions, but also the little things like subtle details that make life easier for his teammates, defensive positioning, or clever touches to keep possession and relieve pressure on the back line.
“His ability to manage the ball,” noted teammate Nkosi Tafari. “He's really good under the pocket. He's got a great awareness of where he needs to be, so defensively he can actually take some of the pressure off of us… He's good in those late-game situations.”
LAFC believe Sonny can be the tipping point for an already-strong side, the sort of elite match-winner who can produce excellence on his own while also inspiring it from those around him.
“Aside from the obvious, the popularity that Sonny has, the greatest difference I've seen is his ability within the group of players and the staff, and the positive impact he makes,” Black & Gold co-president and general manager John Thorrington told reporters this month.
“As a star of that level of popularity, combined with a humility and a grace that is, in my opinion, unique. The impact that has had on the group, and now we'll have that for a full season here, and then beyond, is something we're really excited to see continue to grow.”
Messi magic
Messi’s effect on Miami is comparable, albeit even more profound.
Before the GOAT’s arrival in the summer of 2023, IMCF hadn’t so much as won an Audi MLS Cup Playoffs game or scored a goal in one. Two and half years later, they’re the reigning league champions, have a Supporters’ Shield in their cabinet, won one Leagues Cup tournament while reaching the final of another, and have widely been picked to add to that collection again this season.
Many among their constellation of stars are friends of Messi, and/or admirers attracted by the rare opportunity to play alongside him.
“Leo is a very humble person with an incredible aura,” Miami’s young central midfielder Yannick Bright told La Gazzetta dello Sport last December.
“He's a leader on and off the pitch. Before matches, he always knows how to find the right words to motivate us. He's a model professional with obsessive attention to detail. He's a quiet guy, but on the pitch he transforms into an animal. At 38, after all he's won, he never wants to lose, not even in training. In the locker room, he has an excellent relationship with the entire team.”
Defending champs
IMCF’s tense 3-1 MLS Cup final win over Vancouver Whitecaps FC provided an apt snapshot of how relentlessly effective the maestro really is.
After storming to both the 2025 MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi and Landon Donovan MLS MVP awards with an absurd 29 goals and 19 assists during the regular season, Messi dug deep in different ways to push them across the line, leading the Herons’ defensive press and creating the turnover that enabled him to play Rodrigo De Paul in for the game-winning goal.
“He was fantastic during the whole season with his numbers, but also with the commitment to the team,” head coach Javier Mascherano said in Spanish postgame. “Because he was making a big effort during the last two, three, four games pressing without the ball. That showed us how important it is for him to win.
“In the end, that’s how efficient Leo is, right?” he added. “It wasn't an easy game. Clearly, Leo didn't have as much contact. But he was decisive with the importance of the steal for the second goal and putting in [De Paul] one-on-one. He’s a player who doesn't need to have too much contact with the ball, that's why he's the best in history. He’s the one who has brought us here and has helped us achieve this.”
In several weeks, IMCF will cut the ribbon on Miami Freedom Park, a brand-new soccer-specific stadium at the heart of a $1 billion mixed-use project near the city’s airport – and it’s no exaggeration to call it the house that Leo built. Not coincidentally, La Rosanegra (‘the Pink-and-Black’) now rank tops in Forbes’ annual rankings of MLS club valuations, at $1.35 billion.
“You see the growth,” said Mascherano this week. “As we always say, the presence of Leo has contributed greatly to this, and I think it's important, no?
“I believe that our sporting successes have also helped in how the club is perceived in this way. The ambition of the club and the idea of the club is to grow day by day, and day by day go for more.”
Raising the bar
Messi’s galvanizing effects on his team – the entire organization, even – are apparent, from performance to recruitment to raising the performance levels of his teammates and elevating the club’s profile to new heights.
By the way: Who sit second on that Forbes list, just a hair behind the Herons? LAFC, of course. With Sonny in the fold, the Black & Gold can legitimately aspire to matching or even eclipsing Miami’s level in both on-field competitiveness and global visibility.
Saturday night looks like a decent chance to make a statement.
“Certainly, what Miami is doing for the league is impressive,” said Thorrington. “The amount of money they're spending, the players that they are able to recruit – I do think that there is a pull, particularly for these Argentinians, and frankly, globally, players that want to play with Messi, as many recognize he is the greatest of all time. I definitely think they use that to their advantage. They've got a new stadium opening, all the rest of it.
“They're exploiting those advantages, just as we do here, in terms of recruiting people to LA to play with Sonny, with Hugo [Lloris], with Denis, with Carlos [Vela] in the past,” he added. “The way we face it as competitors in this building: However high the bar gets raised, we want to make sure that we reach that and not only match that, but beat it.”
