Tottenham’s Son Hoping to Win a Medal in the Olympics
Tottenham midfielder Son Heung-Min will be enjoying a lifelong dream of playing in the Olympics but knows that he’s there for one thing and that’s winning a medal for South Korea.
After spending the first four weeks of pre-season training with Tottenham, Son Heung-Min would quickly fly to Brazil after their Australian tour, to meet up with the rest of his South Korea team in preparation for the Rio Olympics.
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With Son joining South Korea’s Under-23 team as one of three over-age players, the 24-year-old will not only be living a life long dream of participating in the Olympics, but will be given a chance to win a medal for his country too.
South Korea’s group on paper is quite strong, with the Taegeuk Warriors facing Fiji on Thursday (August 4th), Germany on Sunday (August 7th) and finally Mexico on Wednesday (August 10th).
Assuming that South Korea gets past the group stage — with the top two teams in each group automatically qualifying for the quarter-finals (there’s four groups of four teams) — they will have a good shot to reach the semi-finals and potentially the finals.
With all that said, Son Heung-Min is obviously excited but did let it be known that he is sorry for the fact that he can’t help Tottenham to begin their 2016-17 season.
“First of all, I’m sorry for the team because I’m going to miss the first game of the season,” Son said, speaking to Spurs TV.
“I’ve had a very good time in the first four weeks of pre-season with the team, the gaffer and the coaching staff.”
“Now I’m excited to go to Rio and to play for South Korea. This is very special for me, my first time in the Olympics.”
“I watched the Olympics in 2012 in London and there were so many great performances there, so many people, so many sports.”
“Everyone is excited. It’s a great feeling.”
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As for winning a medal, that is on the South Korean’s mind otherwise it wouldn’t make sense for him to just enjoy playing in the Olympics and miss out on the first game of Spurs’ upcoming campaign.
“Yes, of course. If that wasn’t the case there would be no point going there.”
“I want to get a medal for South Korea. I run for South Korea every time, the same as I run for Tottenham.”
“I’m not going there just to have fun and enjoy it, I want to win an Olympic medal as well.”
With the football tournament starting just before the opening ceremony and finishing three days before Tottenham’s season opener against Everton on August 13th, if South Korea ends up missing out on a top-two finish in their group, then Son Heung-Min could still represent Spurs.
Either way, whether Son reaches the final or not, his absence wouldn’t be too huge after the signing of Vincent Janssen. And although the two play different positions, with the South Korean international more of a midfielder who can play along the three attacking midfield positions, Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Érik Lamela should be enough for the time being.
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The only problem would be having Son getting injured while on international duty. Not only would this hurt Spurs, but his second season with Tottenham would start off slowly. The same as it did last year when he suffered a foot injury.
Other than that, if he displays good form, Son will most likely be involved in Mauricio Pochettino’s rotation early and often. So Son’s departure for the Olympics could very well be a good thing in the long run.