Son scores in fourth straight, draw keeps him second
Son scored his fourth straight league goal but LAFC drew 1-1 at Vancouver
The three lines
- Son opened the scoring in the 37th minute at Vancouver, a fourth consecutive league goal
- Thomas Mueller equalised and the summit meeting ended 1-1, both clubs on 34 points
- With wins also level at ten, goal difference (+21 to +16) keeps Vancouver top
Key questions
- Did Son Heung-min score against Vancouver
- Yes. He turned his marker inside the box and opened the scoring in the 37th minute — his fourth consecutive league goal, matching his best streak since arriving in MLS.
- Who is top of the MLS Western Conference
- Vancouver, on a tiebreaker. Both clubs sit on 34 points with ten wins each, so the standings fall to goal difference: +21 for Vancouver against +16 for LAFC.
- How do MLS tiebreakers work
- Total wins come first, then goal difference, then goals scored — nine steps in all. A companion piece published the same day walks through the full ladder.
The rematch this site previewed on Saturday delivered everything except a change at the top. Son Heung-min scored, Thomas Mueller answered, and the Western Conference's two best teams left BC Place exactly where they started — separated not by points but by a tiebreaker.
1. What happened
Son's goal came in the 37th minute and was the kind that travels well on replays: receiving with his back to goal inside the box, he sold the defender a turn one way and went the other before finishing. It made him a scorer in four consecutive league games, matching his best run since arriving in MLS, and in every competitive fixture he has started since returning from injury.
The equaliser came from the other side's own decorated veteran. Mueller — Son's teammate in the All-Star Game three days earlier — levelled for Vancouver, and the match finished 1-1, ending LAFC's four-game winning streak.
2. The numbers
| LAFC | Vancouver | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 10W 4D 5L | 10W 4D 3L |
| Points | 34 | 34 |
| Total wins | 10 | 10 |
| Goal difference | +16 | +21 |
| Position | 2nd | 1st |
MLS breaks ties on total wins before goal difference — an American-league quirk that rewards winning over drawing. Here even the wins are level at ten, so the table falls to the second criterion, and Vancouver's five-goal edge in goal difference keeps them top. LAFC have also played two more games, which makes their identical points total slightly more expensive.
3. What is still open
The path back to first is arithmetic now: make up five goals of difference, or beat Vancouver in a remaining meeting. Detailed match statistics await the league's official log, and with fixtures stacked tightly, whether Son starts the next game has not been announced.
For readers wondering why equal points can produce unequal positions, the full nine-step tiebreaker ladder — down to disciplinary points and, in theory, a coin toss — is explained in a companion piece published the same day.