Since Son Heung-Min joined Major League Soccer, the league has had another bona fide player to tout as a fresh face in his prime playing the American game.
It’s been great for a league that has long been chastised for being full of aging Eurostars looking to collect a final paycheck. Sure, there are still plenty of those — see Charlotte’s Wilfried Zaha and Vancouver’s Thomas Müller as examples — but for the most part, MLS has focused a lot more on grassroots approaches to bettering the sport from an academy level and finding a lot of that investment now cracking the first team across many of of MLS’s 30 clubs.
Oh, how could we forget one more star in Lionel Messi, since we’re talking about aging, but at 38 he’s torching the league averaging a little over a goal a game and just won MLS’ Golden Boot, given to league’s best goalscorer. Which he won after scoring a league-high 29 goals, secured with a hat trick – his third of the season in Inter Miami’s regular season finale.
So he naturally gets a pass.
This week, Major League Soccer handed out its annual awards and among them was Son receiving an award for MLS’s Goal of the Year. At first glance, knowing his prowess and propensity for the spectacular, you would think Son won it on some wonder goal that led Los Angeles Football Club to a thrilling victory. On the contrary…
It was a free kick. A free kick from just outside the box that he looped over the wall and into the side netting, near post. It’s a goal you’ve seen a hundred times, and even though it was his first in MLS, this was what both the league and a fan vote selected as Goal of the Year.
One more thing of note: It came in the sixth minute, that secured a 1-1 draw against FC Dallas. No heroics behind it, no gamewinning magic. Just a free kick that secured LAFC a point on the road.
Now here’s what’s really impressive. Son played in 10 matches for LAFC this season, scoring nine goals and adding three assists. Nine goals in 10 games is unreal and a level of production any coach would love to have. But there’s no Breakthrough Player of the Year award or one for Most Clutch Player of the Year. If there was, that designation would have made a lot more sense.
But Goal of the Year? It’s a tough sell.
So why the glaze? Well because it’s Son Heung-Min. And it’s important for the league to highlight their stars in order to attract new ones. It’s why Messi is still the face of MLS at 38. It’s why LAFC and Miami games still regularly make themselves onto network television despite Apple claiming the lion’s share of coverage.
Maybe in the mind of MLS, it’s about growing the game and highlighting a prime Son being in the league in anyway it can was the play here. It’s admirable, but you have to admit, giving an award for a meaningless goal might not be the best way to do it.
