Shining Son! LAFC superstar nets first MLS hat trick | OneFootball

By Justin Ruderman

Grab your shades. Son is shining.

South Korean superstar Son Heung-Min continued the sizzling start to his MLS career with a first LAFC hat trick to secure a 4-1 victory over Real Salt Lake on Wednesday night at America First Field.

"Even [if] score [or] I don't score, I enjoy playing for this club and get a good result away from home," Son stated humbly postgame.

"To be fair, I played five games or six games, five away games, only one home game. I still enjoyed it. It doesn't matter. Obviously, I want to help the team, but I'm enjoying every single second, every single moment, and every single training session and also every single game."

Basking in the Son

Just as he did at the weekend in San Jose, Son wasted no time in Utah by hitting the back of the net within three minutes of kickoff. He quickly added a second with a perfectly placed long-range strike in the 16th minute for his first MLS brace before completing the hat trick late into the second half.

Only six matches into his MLS career, the league-record signing has already netted 5g/1a for the Black & Gold.

"I think I'm still adapting [to] this league, but I think I still can play better than where I am at for sure," Son said of his early success.

"I think it's a lot of communication with the players, and I think I have a very, very close relationship with everyone. It's been five weeks, six weeks, I would say, but everybody just welcomed me so well and been communicating a lot of things. Also off the pitch, I think it's very important culture-wise. There's still other things in this league and then still understanding players each other more, but I think it quite works really well at the moment."

Record-breaking Bouanga

Following a hat trick of his own on Saturday against the Earthquakes to tie league legend Carlos Vela as LAFC's all-time top goalscorer, Denis Bouanga put the cherry on top of Wednesday's victory by passing Vela with his 94th goal in Black & Gold.

"I'm simply really happy to have surpassed Carlos' record and I'd like to thank the team for allowing me to do so," Bouanga said. "I just wanted to say that's just the beginning. 
I'm planning on scoring way more."

Championship contenders

The victory catapults LAFC over Seattle Sounders FC back into the top four in the Western Conference with six matches remaining, beginning with a return fixture against RSL at BMO Stadium Sunday (9 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+; FS1, FOX Deportes).

The Black & Gold continue their quest for a fourth straight top-four finish, and home-field advantage in Round One of the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs with both Designated Players firing on all cylinders.

"I have a good partnership with Sonny," Bouanga said.
"I think we're really complementary and I already mentioned that, but the fact that he's here in the team now, it opens a lot of opportunities and space to do more things."

WATCH: Son, Bouanga make history for LAFC at RSL