Koreans in Europe: Son Heung-min scores in final Spurs appearance before Asian Cup

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Koreans in Europe: Son Heung-min scores in final Spurs appearance before Asian Cup

Published: 01 Jan. 2024, 10:53 Updated: 01 Jan. 2024, 14:53

JIM BULLEY
jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr

Tottenham's Son Heung-min celebrates after scoring his side's second goal during a Premier League match against AFC Bournemouth at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Sunday. [AP/YONHAP]

Son Heung-min left Tottenham Hotspur in the best possible condition he could on Sunday, scoring once in a 3-1 win over Bournemouth in his last appearance before an extended absence for the delayed 2023 Asian Cup.

Son’s goal was the second of the 3-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, where Spurs once again put on a performance that somehow managed to be both confident and nervy in the same 90-minute stretch.

Tottenham got out the gates early with a goal from Pepe Sarr in the ninth minute, but then struggled to do anything with the lead for an hour. Son finally made it 2-0 in the 70th — a shot hammered from across the goalmouth into the bottom-right corner — with Richarlison adding one more 10 minutes later.

Bournemouth managed to pull one back in the 84th, but by then the damage was done. Even with Spurs looking shaky throughout the final stretch, there was nothing the Cherries could have possibly done to really get back into the game.

The win puts Spurs within one point of fourth-place Arsenal — who lost 2-1 to Fulham on Sunday — and three games of first-place Liverpool — albeit with a game in hand — perhaps the best finish Ange Postecoglou could have asked for after an up-and-down start to the campaign.

“There was a bit of everything today, and we needed a bit of everything,” Postecoglou said after the game. “Some of our football was good, we had to show some resilience and character, again a massive physical effort.

“I said in the week that these players had given everything, the ones who were available. We're not stumbling due to a lack of effort, that's for sure, against a side that is probably the most in-form side in the competition, two days less rest after a really big physical load against Brighton.

“The way these players keep giving maximum effort is a credit to them.”

Sunday’s game also saw Tottenham officially say farewell to former captain Hugo Lloris, who has signed with Los Angeles FC after spending the start of the 2023-24 season sidelined at Spurs. Lloris made 447 appearances in 11 years at the club, the seventh-most appearances ever, and left on a free transfer.

Lloris is not the only captain the club had to say goodbye to on Sunday. Current captain Son also departed for what could be over a month to lead the Korean squad at the delayed 2023 Asian Cup.

The Asian Cup kicks off on Jan. 12 and ends on Feb. 10, with the knockout stage set to begin on Jan. 28.

Korea are two-time champions and finalists in the 2015 tournament, and enter as the third-highest ranked team in Asia after Japan and Iran. That makes them favorites to reach at least the semifinals, potentially taking Son out of the Spurs squad for the entirety of the tournament.

With the Africa Cup of Nations running in the same window, Spurs are also set to lose Sarr, who expects to appear for Senegal if a hamstring injury sustained on Sunday does not force him out of the competition, and Mali midfielder Yves Bissouma.

While other teams will lose key players — Liverpool lose Mo Salah, Wolves lose Hwang Hee-chan and Manchester United lose Andre Onana — Tottenham are set to face a particularly acute problem.

Vice-captains James Maddison and Cristian Romero are both expected to be out for January with injuries, leaving Spurs to grapple with a power vacuum at the top and one of the worst-hit squads in the Premier League.

What’s left of Tottenham will be back in action on Friday as they face Burnley in the third round of the FA Cup. Son, meanwhile, will join up with the Korean squad to train ahead of the Asian Cup, where their campaign begins against Bahrain on Jan. 15.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]