Son Heung-Min’s quest to win the Asian Cup trophy with his national team is over. The Republic of Korea fell to Jordan, the team that finished ahead of them in the group stage, by a score of 2-0 on Tuesday in Qatar. Sonny once again captained the team, started, and played every minute of the match in the losing effort.
This is obviously hugely disappointing for Son, who desperately wanted to lead Korea to its first Asian Cup title since 1960. Korea, managed by Tottenham legend Jurgen Klinsmann, were simply not able to get enough going against a determined Jordanian team, who got goals from Yazin al-Naimat and Musa al-Taamari.
The good news for Tottenham Hotspur fans is that there’s no third place match in the Asian Cup, so Sonny will return to North London momentarily, and should be back before Tottenham’s next match against Brighton & Hove Albion. That said, Sonny’s played every minute of every match for Korea in this tournament, including 120 minute matches in two of their knockout games, scoring three goals in the process. Throw in a trans-continental flight from the middle east and I can’t imagine that he’s going to be fit to start against Brighton this weekend.
That said, can you think of a better player to potentially throw onto the pitch against tired legs in the 80th minute than the seven-time reigning Best Footballer in Asia? He’s also going to be angry that he didn’t carry his team to victory, and an angry Sonny is a Sonny that scores goals for Tottenham. Brighton won’t know what hit them, he might tear them into three parts — Brighton, Hove, and Albion.
Highlights of the match are embedded in the header.