Son Heung-Min scored a brace as surging Los Angeles FC extended their winning streak to four matches with a 3-0 victory Saturday night at St. Louis City.
Denis Bouanga added a goal for LAFC (15-7-8, 53 points), who continued their torrid offensive pace. During its four-game run Los Angeles has found the net 15 times and now leads the MLS Western Conference with 60 goals.
In delivering coach Steve Cherundolo his 100th victory with the club in all competitions, Los Angeles dominated the match, taking 21 shots while surrendering just nine St. Louis attempts.
It was the first loss this month for St. Louis City (7-18-7, 28 points), who had won their last two matches. On Saturday, they were eliminated from playoff contention for the second straight year.
Since Los Angeles acquired Son’s contract from Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League in early August, it has gone 5-1-2, advancing to fourth place in the Western Conference.
Son has scored eight goals in his eight matches with LAFC. The presence of Son also has boosted Bouanga, who has tallied nine of his 23 goals in the last five matches.
The duo have combined to score the last 17 goals for Los Angeles.
Bouanga scored in the 15th minute, picking off an ill-advised back pass and racing half the length of the field to blast a right-footed shot just inside the left post for a 1-0 lead.
LAFC kept up the pressure. Over a six-minute span in the middle of the first half, Roman Burki made three of his four saves, fending off shots by Mathieu Choiniere, Sergi Palencia and Bouanga.
In the fourth minute of stoppage time in the first half, Son finished a fastbreak feed from Artem Smolyakov, converting a right-footed shot from the middle of the box to the bottom left corner, making it 2-0.
Son added his second tally in the 60th minute when he patiently held the ball at the top of the box and took advantage of St. Louis City’s lack of defensive pressure. Son’s low blast froze Burki and went into the bottom left corner for a 3-0 lead.
LAFC keeper Hugo Lloris, who sustained a sliding, high-speed collision with St. Louis forward Jeong Sang-Bin in the opening minutes, departed at halftime after making one save. His replacement Thomas Hasal had two saves.
–Field Level Media
