SouthKorea

South Korea breathes sigh of relief after Son Heung-min ends ‘silence’

20-Sep-2022 09:02:04 | The Guardian

It was no crisis but such is the Spurs forward’s status in his homeland that eight games without a goal had a nation worried

Son Heung-min’s spectacular 13-minute hat-trick against Leicester on Saturday ended his eight-game barren run, or ‘silence’ as it was called in South Korea. As those Tottenham matches came and went without a goal, the mood back in east Asia grew ever gloomier, becoming darkest just before the Seoul dawn last week when the forward was substituted in the 2-0 defeat against Sporting in Lisbon.

However much was said in England about a dry patch that felt longer because it stretched from the start of the season, the conversation was louder in the Land of the Morning Calm. With the Taeguk Warriors’ hopes of a place in the knockout stages in Qatar looking to depend largely on Son’s form and fitness, worries were understandable but it could be that some bench time for the megastar would not have been the worst thing for South Korea’s World Cup hopes.