Son Heung-min's free kick named MLS Goal

Son Heung-min’s free kick in his Los Angeles FC debut has been named Major League Soccer’s Goal of the Year.

According to the MLS website on Oct. 28, Son’s debut goal for Los Angeles FC will be remembered in the history books, with the free kick against Dallas called “incredible.” He is the first Asian player and the first LAFC player to win the award since it began in 1996.

On Aug. 24, in his third MLS appearance, Son scored his first goal for Los Angeles FC with a free kick against Dallas. From about 22 meters, he curled the ball with his right foot into the top-left corner, beyond the goalkeeper’s reach. Football statistics outlet FotMob gave the free kick an expected-goals value of 0.07, meaning it would typically succeed about seven times out of 100 attempts.

Son won the Goal of the Year, decided by fan voting, with 43.5% of the vote, edging Lionel Messi of Inter Miami, who finished second with 22.5%.

Son finished the regular season with nine goals and three assists. Third-place LAFC in the Western Conference will play sixth-place Austin FC in the first leg of the MLS Cup playoffs on Oct. 30.


김정훈기자 hun@donga.com