Son Heung-min netted two goals to force extra time but missed a penalty, as his Los Angeles Football Club fell to nine-man Vancouver Whitecaps FC in the shootout in the Major League Soccer Cup Playoffs.
With LAFC down 2-0 at halftime, the South Korean superstar grabbed a brace in the second half to set up extra time in the Western Conference semifinals at BC Place in Vancouver on Saturday. After LAFC struck the woodwork multiple times during the 30-minute extra period, the teams went to penalties.
As the first taker for LAFC, Son hit the right post before Sebastian Berhalter converted his kick for Vancouver.
After the teams' second kickers both scored, LAFC's third taker, Mark Delgado, sent his shot over the net, and then Ryan Gauld scored for Vancouver to give the home side a 3-1 edge.
Andrew Moran scored for LAFC, and their goalkeeper Hugo Lloris denied Edier Ocampo to keep the visitors' hope alive.
Frankie Amaya converted his kick for LAFC to briefly tie the score at 3-3, but Mathias Laborda found the back of the net as the final taker to give Vancouver a 4-3 win on penalties.
In the conference final, Vancouver will face the winner of the other semifinal match between San Diego FC and Minnesota United FC on Monday.
LAFC had eliminated Vancouver in each of the past two postseasons, and they were going for their first MLS Cup title since 2022.
Vancouver drew first blood in the 39th minute.
Goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka launched a long kick to send Emmanuel Sabbi on a fast break, and the midfielder split two LAFC players, Nkosi Tafari and Eddie Segura, before flicking the ball over goalkeeper Hugo Lloris for the 1-0 Vancouver lead.
Laborda doubled the home team's lead during stoppage time, scoring off a rebound after Thomas Muller's header was turned aside by Lloris.
LAFC's offense was stymied by Vancouver in the first half, and it took Son's determined effort in a goalmouth scramble to cut Vancouver's lead in half just before the hour mark.
After Moran headed down a Delgado cross, Son had his initial shot saved by Takaoka. Son's next shot off his own rebound was kept out by Laborda just in front of the goal line, but Son finally poked the ball home with his left foot to make it a 2-1 match.
Son then pulled LAFC even with his patented free kick during stoppage time.
Bouanga won a free kick after being fouled by Tristan Blackmon, who was sent off with his second yellow card of the match on the play. And from the left half-space outside the box, Son curled the ball into the top left corner, out of Takaoka's reach, to tie the score at 2-2.
Vancouver went down another man midway through extra time when defender Belal Halbouni suffered an apparent leg injury and had to be helped off the field. They had used up their substitutions by that point and were forced to play the rest of the match down two men.
Bouanga found the woodwork three times in the dying seconds of the second half of extra time, and LAFC rued those close calls as they fell short in the shootout.
Son, who signed with LAFC in August following a decade with Tottenham Hotspur, finished his first MLS campaign with nine goals in 10 regular-season matches and three goals in three playoff contests.
This match was hyped up as a duel between two new MLS icons in Son and Muller, a Bayern Munich legend who joined Vancouver in August.
This was the 13th meeting between these two players, counting club and national team matches, and Son has just one win over Muller -- South Korea's 2-0 win over Germany in the group stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. (Yonhap)
