Mr Reliable Son shifts focus to shoulder South Korea’s burden
Son Heung-min knows how to make a good first impression. In the last two years, he has served under five different managers at Tottenham Hotspur. Each new one has been immediately comforted by knowing that though the boss may change, the highclass Korean will deliver.
Back in 2019, when Jose Mourinho was Spurs’ surprise choice to replace the sacked Mauricio Pochettino, Son broke the ice with the first goal.
When Ryan Mason took over as caretaker on Mourinho’s dismissal in February, Son converted the late penalty that gave Mason a win in his first fixture in charge.
Enter Nuno Espirito Santo back in August. He was welcomed into the job with a stunning opening-day Premier League victory against Manchester City, thanks to Son’s ambitious strike from distance. Antonio Conte knew the script when he named a Spurs XI for the first time as successor to the short-lived Nuno.
Last Thursday, Son put Tottenham 1-0 up in the Europa Conference League meeting with Vitesse Arnhem that lurched one way then another towards a 3-2 Spurs win.
All of which reminds how important the South Korea captain, chief threat to the UAE in tomorrow’s World Cup qualifier in Goyang, is to his club.
Son is a blessing and trusted by whoever mans the touchline or assesses values in the boardroom at Spurs.
He signed a new, four-year Tottenham contract in July, at precisely the time the Spurs captain Harry Kane was telling the club he wanted to leave and when various prospective managers, higher than Nuno on the shortlist, had been turning Spurs down.
As it turned out, once Kane stayed, there has been more time to finesse what has been a brilliantly effective partnership. Son’s pace, finishing instincts and eye for a pass is a perfect foil to Spurs’ leading man Kane.
This time last year, under Mourinho, their complicity was as fine-tuned as any pair of attacking teammates in world football. In their first 11 games of the past season, 11 goals were each set up and scored by either of them, and Tottenham were top of the table.
Fast forward 12 months and it’s a partnership in need of repairs. From the last days of Nuno’s tenure and the first match on Conte’s watch, the dynamic duo has not registered a shot on target for four hours of league action. Nor has any other Spurs player, but inevitably, analysis focused on the shortcomings of Kane and Son after the goalless draw at Everton on Sunday.
Yet, colleagues speak highly of Son’s positive outlook.
Meanwhile, Son takes a 11hour trip from London to Seoul to re-focus on Korea’s World Cup campaign. The national side sit second in Group A, two places above the UAE.
Ahead of tomorrow’s game between the two teams in Goyang, he has been told that the emphasis will be on him to supply the cutting edge to maintain their route to automatic qualification.
Son, who typically starts from wide left position, is without some trusted allies up front. Hwang Ui-Jo, of Bordeaux, is absent with a hamstring injury.
In his place, Korea’s coach Paulo Bento has called up the uncapped Kim Gun-hee, recently recovered from injury and without a goal in the K-League for his club Suwon Bluewings since May.
The early-season form of Hwang Hee-chan, who has four Premier League goals for Wolverhampton Wanderers while on loan from Leipzig, is some encouragement for Bento, who emphasised the importance of containing UAE.
“They’re a side who are going to demand a lot of us defensively,” he said. “They work very effectively going forward.”
If that suggested Bento will look to Korea’s counter-attacking strengths, then it would be in keeping with the Portuguese coach’s instincts, and the trust in his captain.
Thanks to a breakaway goal from Son, the Koreans earned a 1-1 draw with group leaders Iran last month.
They also avoided a slipup at home to Syria five days earlier with an 89th minute match-winner from him. Without the captain and lodestar, their campaign would by now be playing catch-up.
If Bento looks to Korea’s counter-attacking strengths, then it would be in keeping with the trust in his captain