"This year's A-match is over" Son Heung-min's greeting! "The draw against Palestine makes us hungrier... I believe you will grow."
"This year's A-match is over" Son Heung-min's greeting! "The draw against Palestine makes us hungrier... I believe you will grow."
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Captain Son Heung-min (32, Tottenham) of the South Korean national soccer team left a greeting to the fans himself.
Son Heung-min said on his SNS (social network service) on the 21st, "Thank you for allowing me to play for the national team this year. Although I am more disappointed than anyone else because I did not win the last game, I believe this regret will make us hungry and grow."
Son Heung-min said, "We were able to have fun and happy matches thanks to many fans in our two away matches. We will come back with good performances in our team, and our team will look forward to seeing you in March next year with a healthy face and a smile. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Korea is the best."
Son Heung-min had an eventful year this year. In January, he played as captain of the Korean national team at the AFC Asian Cup. However, he swallowed up his disappointment after losing to Jordan in the semifinal. A bigger stir broke out after the competition was over. It turned out that he had a fight with Lee Kang-in (23), his junior from the Korean national team, ahead of the match against Jordan. The controversy escalated as Son interviewed, saying, "I think we need to think about whether he will be able to continue as a member of the national team." Some raised suspicions that Son hinted at retiring from the national team, but soon afterwards, he made up his mind and continued his performance in the national team.
On top of that, in September, he was booed by home fans before playing the third Asian qualifying home game for the 2026 North-China World Cup against Palestine. At that time, criticism poured into Chung Mong-kyu, president of the Korea Football Association, and the Korea Football Association over the appointment of Hong Myung-bo as the national team's coach, but it also spread to players. Still, Son Heung-min was not shaken and took the center stage as the ace of the national team. In October's A-match, he was excluded from the national team list due to a hamstring injury.
Son Heung-min, then, returned to the national team in this November's A-match and performed well. In particular, he scored an equalizer in an away match against Palestine (held a neutral stadium, 1-1 draw) on the 19th and scored his 51st A-match goal. With this goal, Son Heung-min ranked second alone in the most goals scored by any Korean soccer player. The first place is 58 goals held by Cha Bum-keun, a former national team coach who is a living legend of Korean soccer. 메이저사이트
Son, who scored his A-match debut goal at an early age of 18 in the group match against India at the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar, has risen to the second place with the largest number of goals in his history in 13 years. Son will take one step further to break Cha Bum-keun's milestone in future A matches. On top of this, Son set a new record of most goals scored (10 goals) in 13 A matches this year. The previous record in this category was nine goals that he had scored in 2015.
After the match against Palestine, Son Heung-min said in a broadcast interview, "Thank you so much as a captain for playing well for the year," and looked back on this year, saying, "I was busy and there were many matches. There have been many things since the Asian Cup, and I have shown a few percent disappointment every time. Next year, the players will come together and show good performance to the soccer fans," he promised.
As Son Heung-min said on SNS, this year's A-match schedule for the Korean national team has been completed. Now Son Heung-min plans to return to England and focus on his team's game. Tottenham will play an away game against Manchester City on the 24th.