{"id":161996,"date":"2026-02-20T01:23:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:23:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/161996\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T01:23:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T01:23:35","slug":"son-vs-messi-how-the-lafc-inter-miami-superstars-elevate-their-teams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/161996\/","title":{"rendered":"Son vs. Messi: How the LAFC, Inter Miami superstars elevate their teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Son Heung-Min<\/a> was probably just joking in a casual moment with an old friend.<\/p>\n

Then again, if you\u2019re the sort who believes superstars of that caliber never switch off and never waste a word, it might have sounded like a declaration of intent.<\/p>\n

LAFC<\/a>\u2019s Korean icon visited his beloved former club Tottenham Hotspur in December, just days after Lionel Messi<\/a> led Inter Miami CF<\/a> to the 2025 MLS Cup title, and caught up with his Spurs pal Cristian \u2018Cuti\u2019 Romero, a teammate of Messi\u2019s on the Argentina national team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI let Messi win this year,\u201d wisecracked Son, \u201cbut next year \u2026 we\u2019ll be at the top.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Clash of legends<\/p>\n

A plain truth sits at the root of that friendly banter. Thanks to Son\u2019s otherworldly talents, the dynamite attacking bromance he\u2019s struck up with\u00a0Denis Bouanga<\/a> and the sturdily-built squad behind them, LAFC are on a short list of MLS adversaries<\/a> who can legitimately harbor the same scope of trophy ambitions as Messi and his Herons in 2026.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a big part of what makes their season-opening clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where a massive, potentially record-breaking crowd north of 70,000 fans is expected for the Walmart Saturday Showdown, so enticing (9:30 pm ET | Apple TV<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u201cSonny is just a competitor, and he’s a guy that immediately gets connected with the guys in the locker room. He’s part of the banter from day one,\u201d LAFC defender Ryan Hollingshead<\/a> told MLSsoccer.com shortly after Son\u2019s arrival last August.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s got that sort of personality that just wants to buy into the club and the DNA and everything that LAFC is. And so I think you can see that in the way that he just took off from the first match, he has been playing at a super high level, has been understanding our style of play at a high level.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstanding the league like he already does, he’s a handful for these defenders, and I don’t know who’s going to stop him, honestly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Son Effect<\/p>\n

The core of the Black & Gold\u2019s roster has reached five major finals over the past four seasons, winning two of them, and now they\u2019ll have a full campaign of Son, who bagged 12g\/4a in his first 13 MLS appearances last year, a stretch in which they went 8W-1L-4D. He\u2019s already off to a prolific start this year, posting a goal and a hat trick of assists in Tuesday\u2019s\u00a06-1 victory<\/a> over Honduran side Real Espa\u00f1a in the first leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup<\/a> Round One series.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the vibes and the goal contributions, but also the little things like subtle details that make life easier for his teammates, defensive positioning, or clever touches to keep possession and relieve pressure on the back line.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis ability to manage the ball,\u201d noted teammate Nkosi Tafari<\/a>. \u201cHe’s really good under the pocket. He’s got a great awareness of where he needs to be, so defensively he can actually take some of the pressure off of us\u2026 He’s good in those late-game situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

LAFC believe Sonny can be the tipping point for an already-strong side, the sort of elite match-winner who can produce excellence on his own while also inspiring it from those around him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAside from the obvious, the popularity that Sonny has, the greatest difference I’ve seen is his ability within the group of players and the staff, and the positive impact he makes,\u201d Black & Gold co-president and general manager John Thorrington told reporters this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a star of that level of popularity, combined with a humility and a grace that is, in my opinion, unique. The impact that has had on the group, and now we’ll have that for a full season here, and then beyond, is something we’re really excited to see continue to grow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Messi magic<\/p>\n

Messi\u2019s effect on Miami is comparable, albeit even more profound.<\/p>\n

Before the GOAT\u2019s arrival in the summer of 2023, IMCF hadn\u2019t so much as won an Audi MLS Cup Playoffs game or scored a goal in one. Two and half years later, they\u2019re the reigning league champions, have a Supporters\u2019 Shield in their cabinet, won one Leagues Cup<\/a> tournament while reaching the final of another, and\u00a0have widely been picked<\/a> to add to that collection again this season.<\/p>\n

Many among their constellation of stars are friends of Messi, and\/or admirers attracted by the rare opportunity to play alongside him.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeo is a very humble person with an incredible aura,\u201d Miami\u2019s young central midfielder Yannick Bright<\/a> told La Gazzetta dello Sport<\/a> last December.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s a leader on and off the pitch. Before matches, he always knows how to find the right words to motivate us. He’s a model professional with obsessive attention to detail. He’s a quiet guy, but on the pitch he transforms into an animal. At 38, after all he’s won, he never wants to lose, not even in training. In the locker room, he has an excellent relationship with the entire team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Defending champs<\/p>\n

IMCF\u2019s tense\u00a03-1 MLS Cup final win<\/a> over Vancouver Whitecaps FC<\/a> provided an apt snapshot of how relentlessly effective the maestro really is.<\/p>\n

After storming to both the 2025 MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi<\/a> and Landon Donovan MLS MVP<\/a> awards with an absurd 29 goals and 19 assists during the regular season, Messi dug deep in different ways to push them across the line, leading the Herons\u2019 defensive press and creating the turnover that enabled him to play Rodrigo De Paul<\/a> in for the game-winning goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was fantastic during the whole season with his numbers, but also with the commitment to the team,\u201d head coach Javier Mascherano said in Spanish postgame. \u201cBecause he was making a big effort during the last two, three, four games pressing without the ball. That showed us how important it is for him to win.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, that\u2019s how efficient Leo is, right?\u201d he added. \u201cIt wasn’t an easy game. Clearly, Leo didn’t have as much contact. But he was decisive with the importance of the steal for the second goal and putting in [De Paul] one-on-one. He\u2019s a player who doesn’t need to have too much contact with the ball, that’s why he’s the best in history. He\u2019s the one who has brought us here and has helped us achieve this.\u201d<\/p>\n

In several weeks, IMCF will cut the ribbon on Miami Freedom Park<\/a>, a brand-new soccer-specific stadium at the heart of a $1 billion mixed-use project near the city\u2019s airport \u2013 and it\u2019s no exaggeration to call it the house that Leo built. Not coincidentally, La Rosanegra (\u2018the Pink-and-Black\u2019) now rank tops in Forbes\u2019 annual rankings of MLS club valuations<\/a>, at $1.35 billion.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see the growth,\u201d said Mascherano this week. \u201cAs we always say, the presence of Leo has contributed greatly to this, and I think it’s important, no?<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe that our sporting successes have also helped in how the club is perceived in this way. The ambition of the club and the idea of the club is to grow day by day, and day by day go for more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Raising the bar<\/p>\n

Messi\u2019s galvanizing effects on his team \u2013 the entire organization, even \u2013 are apparent, from performance to recruitment to raising the performance levels of his teammates and elevating the club\u2019s profile to new heights.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By the way: Who sit second on that Forbes list, just a hair behind the Herons? LAFC, of course. With Sonny in the fold, the Black & Gold can legitimately aspire to matching or even eclipsing Miami\u2019s level in both on-field competitiveness and global visibility.<\/p>\n

Saturday night looks like a decent chance to make a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, what Miami is doing for the league is impressive,\u201d said Thorrington. \u201cThe amount of money they’re spending, the players that they are able to recruit \u2013 I do think that there is a pull, particularly for these Argentinians, and frankly, globally, players that want to play with Messi, as many recognize he is the greatest of all time. I definitely think they use that to their advantage. They’ve got a new stadium opening, all the rest of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re exploiting those advantages, just as we do here, in terms of recruiting people to LA to play with Sonny, with Hugo [Lloris], with Denis, with Carlos [Vela] in the past,\u201d he added. \u201cThe way we face it as competitors in this building: However high the bar gets raised, we want to make sure that we reach that and not only match that, but beat it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Son Heung-Min was probably just joking in a casual moment with an old friend. Then again, if you\u2019re…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5429,43215,1660,43214,123,125,124,75441,9596,76890,4959,63688],"class_list":["post-161996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-inter-miami-cf","tag-lafcvsmia-02-21-2026","tag-lionel-messi","tag-los-angeles-football-club","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-mls-is-back","tag-national-writer-charles-boehm","tag-saturday-showdown","tag-sendtonews","tag-son-heung-min"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}