2024-01-17 21:01:05
Son Heung-min. Yonhap News “The Asian Cup was the first major tournament.”
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) also paid attention to Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur)’s fourth Asian Cup. What the first Asian Cup appearance in 2011 and the fourth appearance in 2024 have in common is that the host country is Qatar. From being the youngest at 18, he is now challenging to win the Asian Cup as a ‘captain’.
Son Heung-min said through AFC on the 17th (Korean time), “It’s special. The 2011 Asian Cup was my first major tournament. I came back to Qatar for the Asian Cup. I want to make it a special tournament for me and Korean soccer.” “It will be a journey, so I want to focus on each game and make it a special tournament,” he said.
Son Heung-min at the 2011 Asian Cup. AFC homepage capture 2011 Asian Cup group stage match against India. Son Heung-min came on as a substitute and scored a goal in his A match debut. Before he knew it, he had scored 41 goals (118 games) in A matches.
However, it had nothing to do with winning the Asian Cup. In the first Asian Cup in 2011, they lost to Japan in the semifinals, and in the 2015 Australian Cup, they lost to Australia in the final. In the 2019 United Arab Emirates (UAE) Asian Cup, they lost to Qatar and were eliminated in the quarterfinals. Korean soccer has not won a championship since the 1960 tournament.
Son Heung-min said, “It is difficult to compare with any team that participated in the last tournament. There has been a generational change, and the style of soccer changes even in one year.” He added, “We have a fantastic team and amazing and talented players, but the important thing is dedication. “It was a good team, but we haven’t won a championship in 64 years, which is a long time.”
The goal, of course, is to win for the first time in 64 years. First of all, we got off to a good start by winning the first game against Bahrain 3-1.
Son Heung-min emphasized, “We have only one goal,” and “The important thing is that we won the game against Bahrain. The next game is fast approaching, so we have to keep going.”
1705530658
#Asian #Cup #special #Son #Heungmin #goal