This is the part of the season where the noise around LAFC should be about points, momentum and control. Instead, it has become a sharper test of Son Heung-min’s legs. The 34-year-old is scheduled to start at center forward against Querétaro on the 13th at 11:30 Korea time, and that matters because LAFC need the result while also asking a physically stretched player to keep carrying the attack.
That is not a minor detail. Son returned after the 2026 FIFA World Cup and immediately looked like the player LAFC hoped they had signed, scoring in four consecutive MLS matches, including against Real Salt Lake, Sporting Kansas City and Vancouver Whitecaps after the LA Galaxy match. He even produced multiple goals in the MLS All-Star Game. But the Leagues Cup has told a different story. In LAFC’s two group-stage matches against Chivas Guadalajara and Toluca, he has not scored at all.
That contrast is the entire story here. In the league, Son looked sharp and decisive. In the tournament, he has gone two matches without a goal, and in the Toluca game on the 9th he started at center forward, failed to take a shot and came off in the 23rd minute of the second half. That is not the sort of line that convinces anyone he is operating at full throttle.
LAFC can still dictate the group
LAFC enter the Querétaro match unbeaten in group play with one win, one draw and five points. Querétaro, by contrast, sit last in the group after two losses, with no goals scored and five conceded. On paper, that is a very manageable assignment for LAFC. On paper, it should also be a night for Son to rediscover the edge that made him so dangerous before this tournament slowed him down.
But the real tension is not just form. It is workload. After the Toluca victory, Marc Dos Santos said the team’s physical load and fatigue were very concerning, adding that if seven substitutions had been available, all seven would have been used. That is as blunt a warning as a coach can give without sounding the alarm completely. He also made clear it is difficult to guarantee who will be in the best condition for the next match.
That leaves LAFC in a tricky place. They need Son starting because he changes games, and because his presence alone forces defenders to react differently. Yet they also need to protect him, because six consecutive appearances and the strain of recent matches are starting to show. This is exactly the kind of situation that separates a lively tournament run from one that turns into survival mode.
The schedule does LAFC no favors either. After Querétaro, they face four matches in a little more than ten days, including MLS regular-season games on the 16th, 20th and 23rd. So even if Son starts and LAFC take care of business, the bigger question remains hanging in the air: can they keep him effective long enough for this stretch to matter?
For now, the answer has to be simple. LAFC are still the side with the edge, the better record and the greater pressure to impose themselves. Querétaro have been poor in the group, and anything other than an LAFC victory would be a serious step backward. But if Son Heung-min is once again starting without looking fully fresh, then LAFC are also being forced to confront an uncomfortable truth: their most important forward is already being asked to do too much.
