“Stop crying”…Son Heung-min’s “4th Asian Cup” will finally open

The South Korean national soccer team, led by head coach Jurgen Klinsmann, will play against Bahrain in the first Group E match of the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup at 8:30 p.m. on the 15th (Korea Standard Time) at Jasim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar. The Taegeuk Warriors, who entered Qatar on the 10th, are in good health except that Hwang Hee-pan, who exploded 10 English Premier League goals this season at Wolverhampton, is unable to play due to muscle fatigue.

What is good is that Son Heung-min is about to play in normal condition after going through a sufficient period of adjustment ahead of the first game. Perhaps this tournament can be the last Asian Cup of Son Heung-min’s soccer career, so he is expected to be more determined.

Suddenly, it is Son’s fourth Asian Cup. The Asian Cup is an indispensable event in Son’s life, as he has played 117 A matches. He virtually made his debut in the Asian Cup, and recorded his fourth appearance, which is more than any other player.

Son Heung-min announced his presence as a member of the national team at the Asian Cup held in Qatar in January 2011. Son made his A-match debut in a warm-up match against Syria in late December 2010 and made his major tournament debut as a substitute in the second half against Bahrain at the Asian Cup. In the second match against India, which was his third A-match, he also scored his A-match debut goal and grew fast.

After missing two matches, the Korean team played in the semi-final match against Japan, but lost after penalty shootout. At that time, Park Ji-sung took the Asian Cup as his retirement stage, so there was a lot of disappointment after losing the match against Korea and Japan, but Son’s discovery made him an income. 토토사이트 순위

Four years later, at the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Australia, Son was thriving as expected. His team has also been replaced by Bayer Leverkusen, a top-ranked German club, and his status has been transformed into a key striker. After playing in the first and third group matches, Son scored two goals in the quarterfinal match against Uzbekistan, playing an ace role, and then met host Australia in the final, where Korea will stage an impressive playoff race.

It was Son Heung-min who scored an equalizer in the theater during extra time in the second half when the team was trailing 0-1. Son’s thrilling equalizer and tears after the runner-up became an opportunity to announce that Korean soccer has valuable assets such as Son Heung-min, although he lost to the Australian national team led by Anji Postecoglou, who is currently in the same team with Son at Tottenham.

With such regret, Son challenged to win the title at the UAE Asian Cup four years later in January 2019. However, the tournament ended up as a poor match that was unprecedented in Korean soccer history. Due to participation in the Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games held in September 2018, Son will play in the third group match against China at the Asian Cup due to consultations between Tottenham and the Korea Football Association.

As Son Heung-min played, Korea advanced to the tournament by beating China 2-0, but narrowly defeated Bahrain 2-1 in the round of 16. Eventually, Korea was beaten by Qatar in the quarterfinals and was eliminated early. After losing 3-4 in the quarterfinals to Iran at the 2004 China competition, Korea humiliated itself not to make it to the semifinals in Asia for the first time in 15 years.

Son Heung-min also had an embarrassing situation where he returned home after playing only three matches in the UAE. He returned home with a bitter result at a major competition where he first served as captain of the Korean national soccer team. Son’s fourth Asian Cup will begin now. In other words, Son is stepping up to embrace the trophy that Hong Myung-bo and Park Ji-sung had previously knocked on the Asian Cup title, but failed to achieve.

Son Heung-min was born in 1992, so he is still uncertain whether he will be able to participate in the 2017 Asian Cup in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, we desperately need a happy ending at this year’s Asian Cup. Fortunately, Hwang Hee-chan, Lee Kang-in (PSG), and Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich) are among the top A-level players in Europe, and Son Heung-min is expected to be accompanied with joy.

Whenever Son was eliminated from a major competition, he often shed tears. It was the same in the 2011 Qatar World Cup Korea-Japan defeat, and also after the 2015 Australia World Cup final defeat. Son is playing in Qatar once more, vowing that he will be different this time around. Son’s journey to win the title has begun.