One of Müller, Son dream MLS debuts will end in Vancouver-LAFC playoff clash

They are the kind of midseason acquisitions that dreams are made of.

Think of the player who comes in, fits in seamlessly with his teammates, and whose performances on the field make the team better. Reality is often different, with some players not quite living up to the hype. But this Saturday, the MLS Cup playoffs will feature two players who fit into the former category: LAFC‘s Son Heung-Min and the Vancouver Whitecaps‘ Thomas Müller.

It’s almost a shame that these players are meeting up at this stage of the playoffs, and not deeper into the postseason. Son has been a sensation for LAFC, both on and off the field, recording 10 goals and four assists in 12 league and playoff appearances, and electrifying LAFC’s entire fanbase with his trademark smile. Müller has been almost as good, with eight goals and three assists in nine matches, including the postseason.

It raises the question of why have Son and Müller have done so well while others have failed, beyond their obvious quality. ESPN tackled that query as it related to high-profile players earlier this year, and the list of factors included adapting to the style of play, the ability to adapt to new teammates off the field, as well as the hunger to win.

It sounds simple, but it also requires the kind of character that is accepting of how the soccer culture in MLS might be very different than what they’re used to. Suffice it to say, Müller and Son have checked all of those boxes.

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LAFC defender Ryan Hollingshead recalls with clarity the first time he met Son. It was when the South Korea international was introduced before the team’s Leagues Cup match against Tigres, and went into the locker room, where Hollingshead was using some weights to help him warm up for the match.

“I handed [Son] my weights and he said, ‘Let’s get to work,'” Hollingshead recalled. “And he laughed and started doing the exercise. He was ready to go. Obviously, he was in his street clothes, but it was just one of those where it was like, I got to test his banter early, and he definitely passed the test.”

Son’s acclimatization was helped by the fact that he fit perfectly into LAFC’s counterattacking style. LAFC manager Steve Cherundolo felt his side were missing another attacking weapon up top, one who could finish plays and create a goal out of nothing. That proved correct, with Son’s pairing with Denis Bouanga proving to be devastating to opponents, with Bouanga netting 13 times since Son’s arrival.

But Son’s attitude has been critical to his adaptation as well. Hollingshead noted that Son is demanding, isn’t afraid to speak up if something isn’t working, but in a constructive way.

“[Son] is the first one to push for things,” Hollingshead said. “But then, as soon as the play breaks, he’s coming over and giving you a high five and laughing with you and talking to you about what he could have done differently himself and what he saw, and he’s talking through the play. So it’s like trying to find a solution. And that’s what I love. It’s not just frustration. It’s like, ‘How do we as a team get better?’ His goal is always to make the team better.”

Some familiar faces have helped as well. LAFC keeper Hugo Lloris was at one time Son’s captain at Tottenham Hotspur. Cherundolo played against Son when the two were in the Bundesliga, Cherundolo with Hannover 96, while Son was with Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen. Cherundolo recalled that Son was “constantly a thorn to your side, running and darting and just a pain.

“All of those components point into really only one direction,” added Cherundolo. “This was always headed towards success.”

Many of the attributes that those around LAFC use to describe Son are echoed by Vancouver players and staff about Müller. There’s a push for perfection, but also a humility about everything he does.

“He wants it to be about the Whitecaps with Thomas on the team, and not about Thomas and then with the Whitecaps in the background,” said Vancouver manager Jesper Sørensen. “So I think that’s been his ambition from day one. And that’s also been how he’s been acting, and that’s been very easy for his teammates to deal with. Also with him and also for us as coaches, because obviously we also looked how we could make him fit well into how we would like to do stuff.”

Whitecaps midfielder Sebastian Berhalter recalled how Müller sent him a text before he arrived, where the German introduced himself, and said how excited he was to play with the U.S. international and that they would do great things together. That made a huge impression.

“[That] kind of just set the tone from the beginning, that he’s just like us and he wants to just be one of the boys,” Berhalter told ESPN. “And that’s something from day one, he’s emphasized that he just wants to be one of the boys and we’ve tried to make him feel like that.”

Once the two got to know each other as teammates, the conversations covered all kinds of topics, from soccer tactics to recovery to the way he looks at life. Berhalter’s biggest takeaway?

“[Müller] doesn’t overthink things, he doesn’t make anything complicated,” said Berhalter. “He keeps it very simple and very easy and he does what he wants to do, and that’s very clear and that I think is what makes him successful. He’s learned over his career that, for him, it’s about just being himself and doing the right things and being a realist almost in senses and not trying to hide and going after it.”

Müller may have spent his entire career before this summer in Germany with mighty Bayern Munich, but he knew that the changes he was taking on were big enough that nothing was guaranteed. His attitude proved to be his insurance policy.

“I was not coming here for vacation,” Müller told reporters on Tuesday. “I wanted to do a serious job and that was always my goal when I came here, that I want to perform. But you never know in a different country, different league, in a new team, how long this process maybe will last until you’re really a real part of the team.

“But yeah, in the end I was always able to adapt really quick to situations during all my career. I changed my playing styles so many times in a tiny bit of way.”

The two players have faced off nine times previously, with Müller having the edge with a 6W-1L-2D record, but Son’s win was a biggie: that being in the 2018 World Cup when he scored in South Korea’s 2-0 win over Germany that eliminated the defending World Cup champions.

When asked what he remembered about Son when they squared off in the Bundesliga, Müller remarked that it was a little unfair to look at the kind of player the South Korea international was back then. The Hamburg and Leverkusen teams didn’t have the level of talent to compete with the likes of Bayern.

“We are now [on] very good teams, two very good teams, and he is a big player there,” Müller said about Son. “I’m a big player here, so it’s a little bit different because when he was at Hamburg, when we came with Bayern at this time, we crushed him every time.”

LAFC will be trying to avoid that fate on Saturday. Doing so will require finding a way to nullify Müller as best they can. Cherundolo knows from personal experience how difficult that is.

“He’s one of the most intelligent players out there in the world, just really exceptional at reading the moment in the game and what the game needs,” Cherundolo said. “He has a very lanky and long frame and his technique sometimes look like it’s out of control, but I can tell you firsthand it is everything but that. It is 100% under control and in control. He’s exceptional at his first touch, his passes, his finishes.

“He doesn’t make mistakes and his timing of spatial awareness is amazing. His prowess in the box and sniffing plays out is world class.”

So is Son’s, and come Saturday, fans of both teams — as well as neutrals — will get a chance to admire the quality of both players. But only one player’s dream season will continue.