Is LAFC trying to corner the Korean market in Los Angeles?
LA TimesChina’s defender Liu Yang, right, and South Korea’s defender Kim Moon-Hwan jump for the ball during the AFC Asian Cup group C soccer match in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Jan. 16, 2019. And he believes LAFC’s signing this week of Korean national team defender Kim Moon-hwan could have a similar impact in Southern California’s swelling Asian community, where children have grown accustomed to cheering Japanese and Korean baseball players but have rarely had a soccer star to call their own. Kim, 25, a versatile outside back, is the team’s first Korean, something Yeol Jang, a journalist with Korea Daily, said “is great news” in the largest Korean community outside the peninsula. “Korean players are a good fit for MLS,” said Lagerwey, whose teams won the 2019 MLS Cup with a defense anchored by Korean center back Kim Kee-hee. I do think highly of the Korean market.” Language, Lagerwey said, can be a problem with Asian players but it’s one the Sounders solved with a translator and a mobile-phone app.
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