Hwang, Son shining at highest level
Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min celebrates after a Premier League match against Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Saturday. Reuters-Yonhap
It was a fantastic weekend for the two South Korean forwards in the English Premier League with both Hwang Hee-chan and Son Heung-min making headlines by scoring against two of the best teams in the world.
Heading into the weekend, few expected Wolverhampton Wanderers to do anything but lose against Manchester City, the champion of Europe as well as England. City is a winning machine and has collected maximum points from all six of its Premier League games. Wolves, in contrast, had picked up just one victory and a fight against relegation was looming.
Yet, Hwang scored the winning goal in a 2-1 victory that stunned everyone in England and elsewhere. After 66 minutes, the scoreline was 1-1 and then Hwang fired home from close range to get the all-important goal. The West Midlands club then fought like wolves to stop City from scoring again.
“I’m just so happy to win,” Hwang said after the game. “We were determined to win, determined to fight, and we did. We trust each other as players and as people and we trust the coaching staff and that’s why we got the result today.”
The 27-year-old has now scored four goals in seven league games which means he has already surpassed last season’s total. Then, fans were wondering if he was the forward the team needed and predicted that Hwang could be shown the door. At the moment, however, all is well.
The same can be said in North London too. Son Heung-min and Tottenham Hotspur are enjoying life at the moment. New coach Ange Postecoglou has injected life into the club and life without Harry Kane is shaping up very well indeed.
Son is now the main man in attack as well as the captain. He scored the first goal in Tottenham’s dramatic 2-1 win over Liverpool on Saturday, just over an hour after Hwang had found the net. That goal was Son’s sixth of the season and he is second in the scoring charts only to Manchester City’s goal machine Erling Haaland.
The only downside is that Son seemed to limp a little as he was substituted late in the game though he eagerly joined in the post-match celebrations as Tottenham moved into second in the standings.
It all bodes well for the national team. To have two forwards scoring goals regularly in what is generally regarded as the toughest league in the world is a real boost for Korea boss Jurgen Klinsmann. Qualification for the 2026 World Cup starts in November with a home game against either Singapore or Guam and then a tough away-game trip to China.
In January, there is the Asian Cup, the continental championship that Korea has not won since 1960. Klinsmann, who has yet to impress as coach since his February appointment, has asked his critics to judge him at the Asian Cup. With Hwang and Son scoring against some of the best defenses in the world, the chances of a positive evaluation for the German boss are improving.