Kim Moon-hwan eager to help LAFC challenge for MLS title

Kim Moon-hwan, left, and Jasim Alsalama compete during a game between South Korea and Bahrain in August 2018.

Staff Writer

April 16, 2021 Updated 5:29 PM PT

Carlos Vela has an open-door policy as LAFC’s team captain.

“I’m always there if somebody needs something from me,” he said. “You need something, we’re going to spend one hour, two hours, three hours. It doesn’t matter.”

So Vela predictably cleared his schedule when Kim Moon-hwan, the team’s most important offseason acquisition, sidled up to him in the locker room following a recent training session.

“We had a good conversation about adjusting to the team,” Kim, a right back with the South Korean national team, said through interpreter Ben Chi. “If I needed anything he would be there to help me and support me as somebody who’s also had experience coming to a country with a different language.

“We kind of bonded over that and I consider him a good friend.”

Vela also hopes Kim proves to be a good defender because that’s arguably the one phase of the game that has kept LAFC from an MLS Cup, something the oddsmakers have once again favored it to win this year. LAFC will open its fourth season Saturday against expansion team Austin FC before a socially distanced crowd of about 4,900 at Banc of California Stadium, the first fans to watch an MLS game live in Southern California in more than a year.

Over the last three seasons no MLS team has more regular-season wins, points or goals than LAFC, which last season also became the only team in league history to have back-to-back goal-scoring champions. But it has faltered in the playoffs each year, giving up three goals in season-ending losses to Real Salt Lake and twice to Seattle.

Vela, who set a season scoring record and won the MVP award in 2019, said he would gladly exchange all the records and personal awards for a league championship.

“In the end, football is for the team,” he said this week. “So it’s important for me to bring a trophy for this club, for these fans.”

And that’s where Kim, whose knee injury has put his MLS debut on hold probably until next month, comes in. When he’s healthy he’ll be counted on to help stabilize a defense that allowed a franchise-worst 1.77 goals a game in a COVID-shortened 2020 season.

LAFC's Carlos Vela applauds during a CONCACAF Champions League match against Mexico's Leon in February 2020.

LAFC also moved to settle its goalkeeper situation Friday, buying out the remainder of Kenneth Vermeer’s contract and handing the starting spot, for now, to Pablo Sisniega. In front of him, general manager John Thorrington has strengthened the back line with the additions of Kim, U.S. international Marco Farfan and Colombian center back Jesús David Murillo.

“I do feel the responsibility because I came here to help, I came here to win,” said Kim, 25, who signed with LAFC in January, then moved to Los Angeles two months ago for the start of preseason camp. “My focus right now is to adapt to the playing style and color and personality of the team.”

At the same time he and his wife are having to adapt to a new language, a new city and a new league.

English is becoming more prevalent in South Korea, where most people under 60 have some familiarity with the language. As a result, Chi said Kim’s English was far better than anticipated and he’s comfortable speaking it with teammates and the training staff. He also studies regularly with an English tutor.

“The players have done a very good job in welcoming me to the team and helping me transition,” Kim said. “Ultimately it’s my job to learn this new language.”

COVID-19 precautions have kept Kim from exploring Los Angeles’ Koreatown, although he has tried takeout from several restaurants.

But the city’s not yet home.

“There’s definitely been some comfort and familiarity,” he said. “But I still feel like, although there are a lot of Korean people, a lot of Korean places and Korean words that I can read, it feels like L.A. It feels different.”

The league also feels foreign to most Koreans. When Kim makes his MLS debut, he will be the first Korean to play for LAFC and the fifth to play in MLS. The most recent was Hwang In-beom, who played five games with the Vancouver Whitecaps last season, while the most storied was Lee Young-pyo, a teammate of Thorrington’s in Vancouver who played in three World Cups and is the most-capped outside back in South Korean history.

Kim, who said he knew little about MLS before signing with LAFC, believes he can play a role in making the league a destination for Korean players.

“Something that I have to really focus on is showing what I’m capable of. And being able to contribute to the league and to my team,” he said. “That in turn will bring a higher valuation to other Korean players.

“Right now it’s just a challenge that I have set for myself: really prove myself to the club and the league.”

One way to do that would be to bring Vela and LAFC that elusive MLS title.

LAFC’s 2021 schedule

(all times Pacific)

April 17: vs. Austin, 3 p.m.; 24: vs. Seattle, 3 p.m.

May 1: at Houston, 12:30 p.m.; 8: at Galaxy, 5 p.m.; 16: at Seattle, 6:30 p.m.; 22: vs. Colorado, 7:30 p.m.; 29: vs. NYCFC, 3 p.m..

June 19: vs. Houston, 8 p.m.; 23: vs. Dallas, 7:30 p.m.; 26: at Sporting KC, 2 p.m..

July 3: at Real Salt Lake, 7 p.m.; 7: at Austin, 6 p.m.; 17: vs. Real Salt Lake, 7:30 p.m.; 21: at Portland, 7:30 p.m.; 24: vs. Vancouver, 7:30 p.m.; 28: vs. Minnesota, 7:30 p.m..

Aug. 4: vs. Sporting KC, 7:30 p.m.; 8: at San Jose, 4 p.m.; 15: at Atlanta 1 p.m.; 21: at Vancouver, 7 p.m.; 28: vs. Galaxy, 5 p.m..

Sept. 3: vs. Sporting Kansas City, 7 p.m.; 12: vs. Real Salt Lake, 7:30 p.m.; 15: at Austin, 6 p.m.; 19: at Portland, 3 p.m.; 25: at San Jose, 7 p.m.; 29: vs. Portland, 7 p.m..

Oct. 3: at Galaxy, 5 p.m.; 16: vs. San Jose, 12:30 p.m.; 20: at Dallas, 5 p.m,; 23: at Minnesota, 5 p.m,; 26: vs. Seattle, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 1: vs. Vancouver, 7:30 p.m.; 7: at Colorado, 3 p.m.