In the second round of the Asian Cup group stage, South Korea faced Jordan. Son Heung-min scored with a penalty kick, opening the scoring for South Korea and also breaking the six-game drought in the Asian Cup.
For Son Heung-min, the Asian Cup has a special meaning. In December 2010, Sun Xingmin made his national team debut in a warm-up match against Syria. In the first game of the 2011 Asian Cup against Bahrain, Sun Xingmin made his Asian Cup debut. In the second round against India, Sun Xingmin scored his first goal for the national team. With Park Ji-sung gradually fading out of the national team, the rise of Son Heung-min has become a major gain for the South Korean team in this Asian Cup.
In the 2015 Asian Cup, Son Heung-min, who had already switched to Bayer Leverkusen, also secured his main position in the national team. He played 5 times in 6 games. He scored twice against Uzbekistan in the quarter-finals, and also scored against Australia in the final against South Korea. The team's only goal. After missing out on the championship, Son Heung-min shed tears on the field.
In the 2019 Asian Cup, Son Heung-min encountered trouble. Since Son Heung-min participated in the Asian Games held in September 2018, Tottenham required him to participate in the game only from the third round of the Asian Cup group stage. This resulted in Son Heung-min not reaching his best condition. Although Son Heung-min scored 2 goals against the National Football Team, South Korea was eliminated by Iran in the quarterfinals and failed to advance to the semifinals for the first time in 15 years.
For Son Heung-min, the advantage is that he has ushered in his second spring at the club this season. After Postkoglu coached, Sun Heung-min, who was pushed to the center position, scored 12 goals and provided 5 assists in 20 Premier League games, ranking third in the Premier League scorer list. In the past 7 games, Sun Heung-min scored 4 goals and provided 4 assists. assists.
However, in the first game against Bahrain, Son Heung-min failed to score. Instead, Ma Ning showed him a yellow card for diving.
Only 4 minutes into the game against Jordan, Son Heung-min broke into the penalty area and fell to the ground under Haddad's pressure. However, the referee did not award a penalty kick, which made Son Heung-min very dissatisfied.
Subsequently, the video assistant referee intervened in the penalty and asked the referee to review the slow motion. It took a full 4 minutes for the referee to confirm the foul, and finally awarded a penalty kick and showed Haddad a yellow card.
Son Heung-min was very calm when he stepped up to the penalty spot. After deceiving the goalkeeper, he scored the first goal of this Asian Cup and the fourth goal of his Asian Cup career. This was also his 117th goal. The 42nd goal he scored for the national team.
If the Korean team advances to the quarterfinals, Son Heung-min will play in the Asian Cup 16 times, surpassing the Asian Cup appearance record for Korean players held by Lee Yong-pyo.
For the 32-year-old Son Heung-min, this may be his last appearance in the Asian Cup and his last chance to win the Asian Cup. If he wins the championship as he wishes, he will surpass Cha Bum-keun, Park Ji-sung and other players and become the number one player in Korean football!
