The celebration to announce the new year broke out at the feet of Son Heung-min (Tottenham).
Tottenham won 3-0 in a match against Leeds United in the 17th round of the 2020-21 English Premier League (EPL) on the 2nd. Son Heung-min scored the goal in the 43rd minute ahead of 1-0. Son Heung-min flooded into the door and finished Harry Kane’s through pass with a right foot non-stop shooting.
Son Heung-min reported his 100th goal in Tottenham’s career. Heung-min Son, who transferred to Tottenham in August 2015, played a total of 253 games, playing EPL (65 goals), FA Cup (12 goals), European Football Federation (UEFA) Champions League (UCL, 14 goals), and UEFA Europa League (UEL). 6 goals) and the League Cup (3 goals). Tottenham joined the ‘100 Goals Club’ for the 18th time. After the game, he rejoiced, “It is a tremendous job to score 100 goals on one team. I am very proud. Thank you to my colleagues. It is not something I can do alone. I needed everyone’s help.”
Son Heung-min is a world-class player recognized by everyone. Tottenham 100 goals proved this once again.
Photo = Tottenham SNS
What was the driving force behind him to achieve the glory of 100 goals for Tottenham, a representative powerhouse in the world’s best league EPL and EPL? As Son Heung-min said, it was not something that could be done alone. Although I received a lot of help from my surroundings, two of them could not be missed, who had an absolute influence on Son Heung-min’s football life. Son Woong-jung and Mauricio Pochettino are the only ones who deserve the present glory together.
Son Woong-jung is Son Heung-min’s father. It is also Son Heung-min’s first soccer teacher. It’s a well-known story.
When Heung-min Son was young, he received personal training from his father. Son Woong-jeong, who retired at the age of 28 without playing a big part as a player, studied youth soccer in advanced countries such as Germany and Spain, and went on to become a youth professional leader. He did not send his son to the school soccer department with a uniform system, but he taught himself every day. It was’open education’.
The key is the basics. They focused on basic skills rather than actual games, and encouraged players to enjoy soccer rather than achievements. It also included the severity of never going to the next stage if he did not reach the stage he wanted. In addition to training, English, reading, and character education were also conducted. It was the root of the birth of a’special player’ named Son Heung-min in Korea.
Based on the basic skills he learned from his father, Son Heung-min joined the German Bundesliga Hamburg youth team in 2008 when he was in high school. After that, Son Heung-min, who met European systematic and advanced football, grew explosively. When the anecdote of Director Son Woong-jung became famous, a Tottenham fan appealed, “Tottenham should recruit Son Heung-min’s father!”
Son Heung-min always respected and loved his father. He said, “My father is my football senior, friend, and best father. I can’t help but obey my father’s opinion.” Even when I got older, it remained the same even after I grew up into world class.
German footballers such as Hamburg and Leverkusen began to’assemble’ Son Heung-min, which was’designed’ by manager Son Woong-jung. It can be said that Pochettino is the one who completed’World Class’ Son Heung-min. Son Heung-min transferred to Tottenham in 2015. Director Pochettino actively promoted the recruitment of Son Heung-min. He is known to have wanted to recruit Son Heung-min from when he held the Southampton baton until 2014.
Son Heung-min has grown into a world-class player under the leadership of Pochettino. Director Pochettino is the director who makes the best use of Son Heung-min’s abilities. He is also the leader who gave Son Heung-min an opportunity to spread his wings.
Coach Pochettino made Tottenham, who was on a downtrend, a strong player representing EPL. The team was reorganized with the so-called’DESK (Dele Ali, Christian Ericsen, Son Heung-min, Harry Kane) line’. Turned Tottenham into the youngest and most dynamic team in EPL.
Son Heung-min was at the center. Coach Pochettino preferred a winger who was quick and scored well. Son Heung-min was perfect. In order to carry out a tactic of running a lot, physical strength must be supported, but Son Heung-min had nothing to lack. The movement when not catching the ball and the timing of penetration are also the appearance of Pochettino’s favorite Son Heung-min.
Director Pochettino provided a large space to the left where Son Heung-min is often located in order to properly utilize Son Heung-min. The players were clustered on the right, creating more opportunities on the left. It was a strategy that could reveal Son Heung-min’s true value. When front-line striker Kane fell out for reasons such as injury, he put Son Heung-min in the front line and enjoyed a new talent. It cannot be denied that Son Heung-min was the decisive power of the runner-up achievement in the 2018-19 season, the highest record ever in Tottenham’s UCL.
Head coach Jose Mourinho, who is now holding the Tottenham baton, said, “Son Heung-min’s abilities were created when he was in Pochettino. I want to share it with Pochettino not alone. This is also the reason why British media such as’The Athletic’ chose Tottenham’s best legacy left by Director Pochettino as’Recruiting Son Heung-min’.
Humanly, Director Pochettino is special to Son Heung-min. In the 2015-16 season, the first year of his EPL debut, Son Heung-min considered returning to the German Bundesliga, regretting the unsatisfactory results. At this time, it is a famous anecdote that Director Pochettino showed absolute trust in Son Heung-min. The following season, Son Heung-min scored a total of 21 goals, including 14 in the league, and scored a career high. It was the result of Pochettino’s trust and push. Since then, he has successfully scored double digits for 5 consecutive seasons until this season. He is reigning as the top winger of the EPL.
When Pochettino left Tottenham in 2019, Son Heung-min said:
“I learned not only football, but a lot of my life. I don’t have to say how much I was grateful, and I can’t express everything in words.”
On the day Son Heung-min scored Tottenham’s 100th goal, coach Pochettino announced the news of the appointment of French League 1 coach Saint-Germain in Paris.
Reporter Choi Yong-jae [email protected]