South Korea's national soccer team captain Son Heung-min (Tottenham) expressed his emotional pain in an interview with a local media outlet after the team's disappointing performance at the Asian Cup.
"It's not a good time to talk about the Asian Cup right now," Son told the London-based Evening Standard on Wednesday (KST). "It's really hard to accept (the failure to win the Asian Cup), but that's part of soccer. It really hurts, but it's healing to smile and play soccer again, like we did on Saturday," he said, adding that he was washing away the pain of the loss on the pitch.
Son started all six matches of the Qatar Asian Cup, from the group stage to the quarterfinal against Jordan. In the quarterfinals against Australia, his brilliant dribbling in second-half stoppage time set the stage for a penalty rebound to equalize, and he scored the game-winning goal in stoppage time with a sharp free kick. Despite all the hard work, it was not enough to prevent the team from being eliminated.
The Saturday Son was referring to was the day of his return to Tottenham after the Asian Cup. Son came on for midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur in the 17th minute with the score tied 1-1 in the 24th round of the Premier League at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and assisted on Brennan Johnson's game-winning goal six minutes into stoppage time with a sharp left-footed cross from the left side of the box. Tottenham capitalized on the 'Captain Son' effect 토토사이트 and held on for a 2-1 victory.
"I definitely came back quickly to help the team (Tottenham)," Son said, "I wanted to be part of this team. I wanted to be part of this team," he said, adding that "we got a good result (against Brighton)." Spurs finished with 47 points to leapfrog Aston Villa (46) and reclaim fourth place, the final Champions League spot. Son has 12 goals and six assists in 21 league games.
"I want to help the team as much as possible and enjoy this moment of playing with my teammates," said Son, "There are a few months left in the season, but I don't want to talk about the future right now. We want to do our best as much as we can and we will do our best to make (this season) special," he said, vowing to work towards a top-four finish.
Son will host Wolverhampton on Nov. 18 in the 25th round of the Premier League. Last November, Son Heung-min and Hwang Hee-chan met in the Korean Derby, which ended in Hwang's favor. Wolverhampton came from behind to win 2-1 in a game that saw both players play full-time side-by-side. Hwang was rested for the home game against Brentford on Nov. 11, which they lost 0-2. Wolverhampton are currently in 10th place (32 points).
