Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-min are quickly becoming one of the most dangerous attacking duos in Major League Soccer.
Taking on the San Jose Earthquakes in front of over 50,000 fans at Levi’s Stadium on Saturday night, both showed no fatigue from representing Gabon and South Korea during the international break, leading the way in a 4–2 win.
Son opened the scoring in the second minute, the third-fastest goal in LAFC history, before Bouanga scored a hat-trick to seal the win, bringing LAFC to two wins in their last five matches since Son debuted.
Despite many fans packing the Earthquakes’ home match to catch a glimpse of Son, it was Bouanga’s brilliance that made history, tying LAFC and Mexico legend Carlos Vela as the club’s all-time leading goalscorer with 93 goals.
“I am very happy to tie Carlos for LAFC,” Bouanga told reporters following the victory. “I don’t have the words to describe this feeling. I am very happy.”
The performance came after intense travel for Bouanga, who had travelled thousands of miles to play two World Cup qualifying fixtures for Gabon, highlighted by a hat-trick against Seychelles which brought his nation closer to 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification.
With those goals, he took the lead in African World Cup qualifying, with one goal more than Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, and he brought that form back to LAFC to tie Vela’s scoring mark.
“His dedication, his ability, and his mentality to come in and want to play and score and do what he can for his team is awesome,” head coach Steve Cherundolo said. “[Son] and Denis, when they have fresh legs, they are very dangerous… we hope we can keep putting them in positions to score.”
More history could be on the horizon for Bouanga as well, as he sits on 18 goals with seven matches remaining, and could become the first player in the league’s 30-year history to have three consecutive 20-goal seasons.
