You are listening to the Espresso Sports Update. Here is a feature on South Korean footballer Heung-minn Son’s return to form, brought to you by The Indian Express.
“Tottenham Hotspur coach Antonio Conte may have allowed himself a smile or two as Son Heung-min, who was yet to get off the mark this season, came off the bench to score a glitzy 13-minute hat trick against Leicester City at the weekend. And while Cote’s smile could be mistaken for a smirk, there’s someone who surely heaved a huge sigh of relief.
That someone is South Korea’s coach Paulo Bento.
With the World Cup just two months away, Bento’s biggest worry must’ve been that Son looked only a shadow of the player he was last season. And South Korea need him to be at his best, if not better, as they’ve been drawn into a very difficult group in Qatar.
In Group H, they will face a star-studded Portugal, led by Cristiano Ronaldo, South American powerhouse Uruguay with the likes of "Luis Suarez", Edison Cavani as well as 23-year-old Liverpool stalwart Darwin Nunez – and tricky African side Ghana.
Getting out of that group will be a Herculean task and Bento will take comfort from Son’s performance against Leicester.
Son, who won last season’s Golden Boot, scoring 23 goals, wasn’t able to get on the scoresheet in the first six games this season. That led to Conte making a very difficult choice in benching him for their home against Leicester. With the game evenly poised at 3-2 and Leicester trying to take control of the midfield, Cote turned to Son.
Wanting to prove himself after being benched for the first time, Son showed he’s ready for a fight by becoming the first Tottenham player to score a hat-trick off the bench in the Premier League this season.
His first goal was spectacular, to say the least. With his right foot, he curled one into the top corner from 25 yards, then his left-footed strike found the bottom corner from 20 yards and it was rounded off by a deflected shot being given after the video assistant referee overruled an offside decision.
Son himself admittedly was “really frustrated” after he was benched by Conte.
Son told Sky Sports after the game “I was frustrated as well. I can do much better than I have been. I have been disappointed, the team has been doing well but I was disappointed with my performance. My finishing has been poor. I’ve also been a little bit unlucky with an own goal, two offside goals, and hitting the crossbar. I knew goals were coming and I wasn’t worried.”
Talking to BBC Sport, Son said, “”I couldn’t believe it when I scored. All the frustration and what I had, disappointment, and negative feeling just went. I couldn’t move so I stood still. It made me really happy,”
Son has been ubiquitous to the Tottenham and South Korea team, so much so that he’s probably played and travelled more than any other professional footballer, at least in the past four years.
While his club has punishing English and European football schedules, he’s had to travel a lot when playing for his country. Starting with the 2018 World Cup in Russia, then the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia – which his team won thereby exempting him from military service – followed by the 2019 Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates. Then there were the qualifiers for Qatar which were played all over Asia
Not to forget he does a wide range of commercial activities — his popularity and huge fan following means all the top brands want to get a hold of him.
While he couldn’t get on the scoresheet, people raised questions if his packed calendar was taking a toll on him.
Last week, when Bento was asked about Son’s form he played down any concerns. “There is no concern and I feel the same as when he’s scoring a lot,” Bento had said, adding, “I have all the confidence in him as usual. I do not intend to talk to him about it.”
And Bento too will be thankful that the hat-trick means he’s unlikely to receive questions about Son as his team gears up to play friendlies, Costa Rica, on Friday and Cameroon four days later.
The question plaguing Bento before last weekend was if Son didn’t find his form before November, who could he depend on to see his team finish in the top two of the group to make it to the knockout? That would mean they would need a dominant striker.
That mantle would fall to Hwang Ui-jo, who recently joined Olympiakos on loan from Bordeaux, and there’s always Wolves attacker Hwang Hee-chan. The 26-year-old has shown glimpses of the attacking ability but he’ll need to start more often if he wants to play in Qatar.
The fact is that South Korea can’t afford to fall back on Plan B. They need Son. Unless injured, he will most definitely be there against Uruguay on November 24. And as he showed, it takes just 13 minutes to change the narrative.”
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