www-nytimes-com-dxmrrf.txt (41552B)
1 [1] 2 The Athletic 3 [2]NFL 4 [3]NBA 5 [4]MLB 6 [5]NHL 7 [6]WNBA 8 [7]NCAAF 9 [8]Golf 10 [9]Women's Euros 11 [10]FIFA Club World Cup 12 [11]NCAAM 13 [12]NCAAW 14 [13]Premier League 15 [14]Tennis 16 [15]Peak 17 [16]Global Sports 18 [17]MLS 19 [18]NWSL 20 [19]Fantasy Baseball 21 [20]Fantasy Football 22 [21]Soccer 23 [22]Women's Soccer 24 [23]Formula 1 25 [24]Olympics 26 [25]Sports Business 27 [26]Opinion 28 [27]Betting 29 [28]Memorabilia and Collectibles 30 [29]College Sports 31 [30]Culture 32 [31]Motorsports 33 [32]NASCAR 34 [33]Women's Hockey 35 [34]MMA 36 [35]Boxing 37 [36]The Pulse Newsletter 38 [37]Cities 39 [38]Training Camps 40 [39]Today's News 41 [40]Connections: Sports Edition 42 Son Heung-min is Tottenham. Tottenham is Son Heung-min. 43 44 Son Heung-min is Tottenham. Tottenham is Son Heung-min. 45 46 [41]Jack Pitt-Brooke 47 Aug. 4, 2025Updated 5:05 am EDT 48 49 Son Heung-min’s Tottenham career ended in Seoul, but his 10-year journey with 50 them was completed in Bilbao. 51 52 That was where he lifted the Europa League trophy in May, the single moment 53 which suddenly made sense of everything else. All of the effort, all of the 54 loyalty, all of the goals, all of the tears. Justified by that night in 55 northern Spain and the celebrations that followed. 56 57 Advertisement 58 59 And it was in Bilbao where Son’s embodiment of Tottenham — and Tottenham’s of 60 Son — became complete. 61 62 Nobody understood this before that final better than their head coach at the 63 time, Ange Postecoglou. And he used it as motivation. 64 65 “I made him a big focus of our Europa run because I thought he was symbolic of 66 where people saw the club,” Postecoglou tells The Athletic. “Obviously he’s an 67 outstanding player but was missing that key piece of success.” 68 69 Postecoglou told the players that victory against Manchester United would 70 change perceptions of both Son and the club in an instant. 71 72 The players went out and did it for Son, just as they did for Spurs. There was 73 no longer any distinction between the two. 74 75 It is rare to see that sort of unity between player and club. But that is what 76 Son reached over the course of his decade in north London. It is a profound 77 achievement, an unquestioning love, more so than anything won merely on the 78 pitch. His place in the history and memory of the club and their community is 79 deep, permanent and unambiguous. 80 81 “Sonny is Tottenham,” said an emotional James Maddison on Saturday, preparing 82 to play with his captain and close friend for the final time. “And Tottenham is 83 Sonny. It’s weird to think about Tottenham Hotspur without Son.” 84 85 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 86 87 For the start of the story of Son and Tottenham, you have to go back not 10 88 years but 12. Back to 2012-13, when he was a 20-year-old at Hamburg, starting 89 to make an impression in the Bundesliga. It had been hard work establishing 90 himself in German football but people were starting to take notice of this 91 fast, graceful forward who was already starting to cut through teams. 92 93 Tottenham sent their former manager David Pleat over to watch the South Korean 94 in action, but he was not initially convinced. He thought Hamburg looked 95 terrible and Son, recovering from an injury at that time, did not look fit. 96 Still, Spurs were curious enough to open talks with Hamburg about a move. 97 Remember, this was the point when they were starting to think about life after 98 Gareth Bale, who joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2013. Young, dynamic 99 forwards were very much on their mind. 100 101 [GettyImages-161130564-scaled] 102 Son first moved to Hamburg at the age of 16 (Lars Baron/Getty Images) 103 104 Despite Tottenham’s interest, it was another English club who got closest to 105 signing him from Hamburg. Mauricio Pochettino had only been Southampton manager 106 for a few months but knew that he needed more speed and goals in their forward 107 line for the following season. “Sonny represented exactly the profile that we 108 liked: dynamic, good on transitions, could play vertically, could play off both 109 sides,” Paul Mitchell, then Southampton’s head of recruitment, tells The 110 Athletic. “We wanted to play high pressing, high-octane football in and out of 111 possession. He was perfect.” 112 113 Advertisement 114 115 So it was Southampton rather than Spurs who were front of the queue in summer 116 2013, but Son decided it was not the right time to try his luck in the Premier 117 League. He stayed in Germany, moving to Bayer Leverkusen. 118 119 Pochettino, of course, left Southampton for Spurs in summer 2014. Six months 120 later, Mitchell followed him. Pochettino and Mitchell knew they had an exciting 121 young team at White Hart Lane, but one that needed an extra cutting edge. They 122 remembered Son, now playing for a Leverkusen team whose style perfectly mapped 123 onto Pochettino’s own brand of pressing. “We never lost the idea of how well he 124 aligned to principles we wanted to build in our teams,” Mitchell says. 125 126 The fact that Son was shining in a team that put so much emphasis on running 127 and pressing was important, but so was his physical robustness. Over his two 128 years with Leverkusen, he only missed four matchday squads out of 94, and they 129 were all because of international commitments or suspensions. 130 131 In February 2015, Tottenham sent a scout to Leverkusen to watch a game against 132 Wolfsburg. In the first half, Kevin De Bruyne and Bas Dost ripped through 133 Leverkusen, building a 3-0 lead. The second half belonged to Son. He started by 134 nicking the ball from the hands of Diego Benaglio and rolling it in. For his 135 second goal, he sprinted after a long pass, took it down calmly, then lifted it 136 over Benaglio with the outside of his right boot. To complete his hat-trick, 137 Son cut in from the right and thumped a shot with his left foot through a busy 138 penalty area into the bottom corner. 139 140 Leverkusen lost 5-4 that day, Son’s hat-trick bested by Dost scoring four 141 times. But Spurs had seen enough. The scouting feedback to the club was not 142 just about those three goals, but his intangible qualities that had to be seen 143 up close: How relaxed he was in front of goal. The efficiency of his actions in 144 the final third. His two-footedness, but especially his unique capacity to 145 surprise opponents by getting unpredictable shots off from either side of the 146 goal. 147 148 [GettyImages-1038988662-scaled] 149 Leverkusen lost to Wolfsburg that day in 2015 but Son did enough to impress 150 Spurs (Bernd Thissen/Getty Images) 151 152 Tottenham had also been interested in West Bromwich Albion striker Saido 153 Berahino, but then learned of an issue between Leverkusen manager Roger Schmidt 154 and Son. “It gave us this little window of opportunity,” Mitchell recalls. 155 “Because we had done all the background checks, all the profiling, checking his 156 alignment to the style, we could move really, really quickly.” So fast, in 157 fact, that some Spurs staff were frantically Googling their new player’s name 158 on the day he signed. 159 160 On August 28, 2015, Son joined Tottenham for £22million ($29m at the current 161 rate). Mitchell is still proud of the deal: “That fee for a player of that 162 quality is maybe one of the best investments any of us have ever made in our 163 careers.” 164 165 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 166 167 Kevin Wimmer still remembers Son’s first day at Spurs. Austrian defender Wimmer 168 had arrived at the start of that summer from Koln, Leverkusen’s local rivals. 169 But this was the start of a long friendship. 170 171 “On the first day, he was already always smiling,” Wimmer recalls, 10 years on. 172 “He knew that I spoke German, so from the first day on, we had a special 173 connection. You could just feel that he’s such an amazing character. He was so 174 nice to everyone — and to me — from the start.” 175 176 Advertisement 177 178 This was an exciting summer at the club, a moment of rejuvenation for an 179 improving team. Pochettino and Mitchell had put together a group of hungry 180 young players who all looked like they would run through brick walls for their 181 new manager and new team-mates. The surprising thing, given what a difficult 182 first year Son ended up having, was how easy it looked at the very start. 183 184 On September 17, Tottenham hosted Qarabag of Azerbaijan in their opening Europa 185 League group-stage fixture. Son and a 19-year-old Dele Alli made their second 186 starts for the club that night. It felt like a window into Spurs’ future, and 187 the Korean was shining bright. He swept in an Andros Townsend corner for the 188 first goal of a 3-1 win. He scored a second a couple of minutes later from a 189 beautiful one-two with Dele. Three days later, Son started again, in the 190 Premier League, bursting down the left to score the only goal to defeat 191 visitors Crystal Palace. He looked like the Son of the Bundesliga already. 192 193 [GettyImages-488753594-scaled] 194 Son celebrates his first goal for Spurs, against Qarabag (Scott Heavey/Getty 195 Images) 196 197 But this was a false dawn. 198 199 One week later, Son injured his plantar fascia, an important band of tissue on 200 the bottom of the foot, against Manchester City. And his debut season never 201 recovered. He did not make another start for Spurs for two months. He did not 202 score for them again until after Christmas. For the biggest league games, it 203 was clear that Pochettino wanted Erik Lamela, Dele and Christian Eriksen in the 204 three behind striker Harry Kane. Son only started another 10 league games all 205 season after that September injury. Three of them at the very end, the last two 206 when Tottenham’s title challenge was over and Leicester City were surprise 207 champions. 208 209 The big question over the second half of that season was not just whether Son 210 was playing, but whether he was even enjoying it. Nine years on, recollections 211 differ about this point. “He has such a positive mindset and attitude,” 212 remembers Mitchell, “coming in with a big smile, working hard, we never felt at 213 any time that he was ever even considering giving up.” But there were certainly 214 those at the club who feared Son’s head was dropping, that his application in 215 training was not as good as it could have been. And that he did not look as if 216 he was enjoying the challenge of trying to win his place back. 217 218 In August 2016, Son went to Brazil to play for his country at the Olympics. 219 When he came back to Spurs, he knew there was an offer for him to return to the 220 Bundesliga with Wolfsburg. On one level, it made sense: Son had already proved 221 that he could excel in the Bundesliga. And he had not been reluctant in the 222 past to move for the good of his career. 223 224 Son’s mind was made up. “I came close to leaving,” Son told London’s Evening 225 Standard newspaper in 2019. “I went to (Pochettino)’s office and told him I 226 didn’t feel comfortable and wanted to leave for Germany.” Fortunately, 227 Tottenham had other ideas. Partly because having invested £22million in him a 228 year earlier, they did not want to lose him on the cheap, even if there were 229 some internal doubts about him. But also because the football staff knew how 230 good he could be. Players like that — with that pace, quality, versatility and 231 attitude — do not come along very often. He would have been impossible to 232 replace at short notice. 233 234 Advertisement 235 236 So Pochettino explained to Son, in that special way he had with players, that 237 the best solution was for him to stay and fight for his place in the team. “We 238 were clear with Son that he has to earn his right to play, as we tell 239 everyone,” Pochettino later recounted in his book, Brave New World. “He wanted 240 to leave after a bad year, but I told him that he was part of my plans and we 241 weren’t going to let him go on the cheap. He decided to stay.” 242 243 The uncertainty about Son’s future — combined with his participation in the 244 Olympics through the first two weeks of August — meant he was not involved in 245 Spurs’ start to the new season. It is hard to plan around someone who had 246 “almost both feet out of the door”, as one insider put it. 247 248 Son didn’t feature at all before the first international break began in late 249 August, in which he played in one of South Korea’s two World Cup qualifiers 250 that window then came straight back to England. But he trained so well on his 251 return that Pochettino told staff that he had to start their next league game — 252 away at Stoke City on September 10. 253 254 [GettyImages-601877528-scaled] 255 Son kick-started his Spurs career at Stoke in September 2016 (Laurence 256 Griffiths/Getty Images) 257 258 It was an inspired choice. Son was electric, scoring twice, the second 259 beautifully curled into the top corner from the edge of the box, and setting up 260 another goal for Kane in a 4-0 win. 261 262 In a very real sense, this was the true start of his Tottenham career. 263 264 Two weeks later, he scored both as Middlesbrough were beaten, 2-1. Then he got 265 the goal in a 1-0 defeat of CSKA Moscow in the Champions League. Five days 266 after that, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City came to White Hart Lane. With Kane 267 injured, Son started as a false nine and ran City ragged, inspiring a 2-0 win 268 that showed the world how good he and this Spurs team could be. 269 270 So was there ever any real doubt? 271 272 “We had to be patient and accept the noise, because it was a fair early 273 reflection,” Mitchell says. “But we had done the work. We had seen how he had 274 been in the Bundesliga. We knew the quality. We could feel it in the sessions. 275 We could see how dynamic he was, how intelligent, the finishing ability off 276 both sides. We were adamant: he will be a top player.” 277 278 Advertisement 279 280 Looking back, the most crucial part of Son’s story is not that he came to 281 Tottenham in summer 2015. It was inevitable that he would have left Germany for 282 the Premier League at some point. Far more important was what happened in 283 summer 2016. 284 285 The fact that he considered giving up and waving goodbye to Spurs after one 286 difficult year, before staying and succeeding is far more interesting and 287 surprising. And significantly more decisive to his eventual triumph. 288 289 Both he and the club continued to reap the rewards for years to come. 290 291 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 292 293 The remarkable thing about Son’s peak is how long it lasted. 294 295 It started in that autumn of 2016 and lasted for at least six years — maybe 296 even eight, depending on your view. During that time, he firmly established 297 himself as one of the best forwards in football. 298 299 There is very little new that can be said about how good Son was at his peak. 300 It was not just that he was fast, although when he hit top speed, few defenders 301 in the game could keep up. It was not just that his movement was good, although 302 there was barely an offside line he could not catch off-guard. It was not just 303 that he was a good finisher, although he would outscore his expected goals 304 figure by bigger margins than even Kane year after year. And it was not just 305 that he was two-footed, although Mitchell, who signed him, says he has never in 306 his life seen a better player with both feet. 307 308 It was all of these things in combination, all of it done with a grace and 309 efficiency which made Son look like a feat of engineering. He looked so 310 effortlessly smooth and elegant as he burst down the left, opened his body up 311 at full speed, and whipped the ball into the far corner. As he did so, he 312 radiated a sense of inevitability. One that could be felt by everyone in the 313 stadium. Including in the Tottenham dugout. 314 315 [GettyImages-1686805056-scaled-e1754160763280] 316 Son and James Maddison enjoyed a briefly fruitful partnership (Marc Atkins/ 317 Getty Images) 318 319 “When you think about players, particularly in the Premier League, who played 320 his position, the output he had of goals and assists was quite extraordinary,” 321 says Postecoglou. “He was as good a finisher as you could find from wide areas. 322 Even last year, there were times when Sonny breaks through on the left and puts 323 it in the bottom corner, across the goalkeeper. You know it’s a goal before 324 he’s even struck it.” 325 326 Advertisement 327 328 But with Son it was about more than just the aesthetics or even just the 329 numbers (his 127 goals make him the Premier League’s joint-16th highest 330 scorer). Because his great strength at Tottenham was the importance of the 331 goals he scored. 332 333 During those peak Pochettino years, the feeling inside the club was that they 334 had three top players, three ‘number ones’ in their squad. There was Kane, the 335 ultimate high-volume goalscorer. There was Dele, whose unique talent meant that 336 he could break open the biggest games. And then there was Son, whose gift was 337 for the difficult matches, and the important goals — the openers and the 338 winners. 339 340 Just think back to the most memorable Son goals, and how much they mattered. 341 342 The 89th-minute winner at Watford as Spurs chased a top-four place, and 343 Champions League qualification, in his first season. The decider at Borussia 344 Dortmund in the Champions League in 2017. The opener against the same 345 opposition in the first leg of a last-16 tie in that competition in 2019. The 346 first ever official goal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium against Palace later 347 that spring. The winner against City in a Champions League quarter-final first 348 leg six days later. 349 350 Best of all, the ultimate Son performance, was when Spurs went to the Etihad 351 Stadium to try to defend that one-goal lead. 352 353 City were all over them from the start and had already pulled level in the tie 354 when, in the seventh minute, a loose ball fell to Son on the edge of the box. 355 First touch, right foot, in off goalkeeper Ederson’s legs. Two minutes later, 356 after Lucas Moura broke down the right, Eriksen found him and he produced a 357 moment of pure Son genius: a perfect first touch away from Kyle Walker, opening 358 his body up, and then whipping the ball into the far top corner. 359 360 Everything good about Son was encapsulated in that moment: clinical, graceful, 361 in a moment with the highest possible stakes. 362 363 Advertisement 364 365 Even after that, he kept getting better — and more decisive. He scored a 366 stoppage-time winner at Aston Villa in February 2020, the second of his two 367 goals that day, when playing with a broken arm, and the first goals in 2-0 home 368 defeats of City and Arsenal behind closed doors, due to the pandemic, that 369 autumn. 370 371 His best season of all was 2021-22. It started with Son getting the first goal 372 of the brief Nuno Espirito Santo era, another winner against City, and it ended 373 with him scoring 12 times in the last 10 league games as Antonio Conte’s Spurs 374 stormed past Arsenal to seal fourth, the Korean ending up sharing the Golden 375 Boot with Mohamed Salah of Liverpool on 23 Premier League goals. 376 377 Spurs fans will all have their own favourite Son moment. When he scored his 378 100th Premier League goal — becoming one of only 34 players to do so — in a win 379 over Brighton in April 2023, his friends chose to mark the achievement. Ben 380 Davies — Son’s long-time Tottenham team-mate and best friend — hosted a dinner 381 party at his house to celebrate. 382 383 [GettyImages-1250892894-scaled] 384 Son’s 100th Premier League goal was a trademark long-range effort (Mark Leech/ 385 Getty Images) 386 387 And it’s not just Davies and Wimmer — Son has had an incredible bond with 388 dozens of the players he has shared a dressing room with at Spurs. It’s not 389 hard to see why. 390 391 When Tottenham went to South Korea in the 2022 pre-season, every member of the 392 travelling party arrived at their hotel to find personalised gifts in their 393 rooms from Son to thank them for coming to his homeland. 394 395 It was the same story when they went there again last year. Everyone on the 396 tour got gifts from Son’s personal brands. Even Postecoglou got a cap, shorts, 397 a T-shirt and some toiletries. He made sure to impress upon his squad the 398 importance of Son’s gesture. 399 400 “I would constantly tell the players, because we had a young group, that the 401 measure of any person is not always their achievements,” Postecoglou says. 402 “It’s about how they treat other people. Sonny didn’t have to do those things, 403 it’s his generosity. I could see that the players understood: giving back is 404 just as important as any accomplishments you make. 405 406 Advertisement 407 408 “He was constantly doing that, constantly giving back. It was a great example 409 to everyone, myself included, that irrespective of how great a career you have 410 and how high the esteem you’re held in, it’s the way you treat people that’s a 411 greater measure than anything else.” 412 413 When Son was given gifts by adoring fans on such tours — and he got a lot — he 414 took time to say thanks and treasured every one of them, having them loaded 415 into a van to take home with him. 416 417 This has always been the way with Son. 418 419 From the time in his first few months at Spurs when he organised and paid for a 420 big Korean banquet at the training ground for players and staff. Or how Son 421 would always invite Wimmer to his home after training, so that his mother could 422 cook for his team-mate. (“His mum is such a lovely person,” Wimmer says, “she 423 always took care of me, like I was also her son.”) 424 425 [GettyImages-510207518-scaled-e1754160947660] 426 Son shared a close bond with Wimmer and Walker in his early years at Spurs 427 (Alex Livesey/Getty Images) 428 429 Or just the little acts of kindness that he imparts every single day. His 430 generosity in meeting fans, recording videos for them, signing photographs 431 after training when everyone else has driven home, anything to brighten their 432 day. Anyone who knows Son or has worked with him will tell an identical story 433 of him being delighted to see them, asking how they are, how their family is. 434 People who have not seen Son for a long time will get messages out of the blue 435 checking in on them and their loved ones. 436 437 Which is why people who know Son say that, however impressive he is as a 438 footballer, he is even more impressive as a person. He is idolised by millions 439 but still sees himself in other people, and makes time for every single one. 440 441 “He is exactly as you see him,” says Postecoglou. “Sometimes, the public 442 perception of a person is a lot different to how they actually are. But with 443 Sonny, there was no difference in the way the public perceived him to how he 444 was in private. 445 446 Advertisement 447 448 “The one thing about Sonny that people don’t understand is that he’s lived in a 449 goldfish bowl for pretty much the entirety of his career, he’s always had eyes 450 on him. To live in that sort of cauldron for as long as he has, and I doubt you 451 could find one person to say something negative about him, is just incredible.” 452 453 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 454 455 If deciding not to leave Tottenham in summer 2016 was the making of Son, it was 456 another decision four years later that built his legacy. 457 458 The 2020-21 season was a strange time at Spurs. Jose Mourinho was in charge, 459 football was still being played behind closed doors due to Covid-19, and after 460 a strong start, the team went into a sharp decline. Kane already knew that City 461 wanted him, and at the end of that season he would try to escape there. Son was 462 28 then, and at his physical peak. He was good enough to play for any team in 463 the world. But it was at this point — when he could have done anything he 464 wanted — that he again decided to stay. 465 466 A new long-term contract was agreed that autumn, then announced in July 2021. 467 It was for another four seasons, which have turned out to be Son’s last four at 468 the club. 469 470 Kane finally got his move, to Bayern Munich, in 2023 — the summer Postecoglou 471 arrived as head coach. With Hugo Lloris also on his way out, it was time for a 472 new captain. And Postecoglou had a decision to make. “I thought the key thing 473 in looking for a leader was a unifier,” the Australian explains. “And this is 474 who Sonny is. He could literally sit at any table in the lunch room, whether it 475 was staff or players, and get a conversation going. That was going to be 476 important for us. 477 478 “His demeanour at the training ground, and the way he trained, was almost like 479 he was a first-year player every time he was out there. If your leaders are not 480 engaged, or lack enthusiasm, at any stage, that filters through to the whole 481 group. But he would not allow that to happen.” 482 483 [GettyImages-2216329805-scaled-e1754160217711] 484 Son waves goodbye to the Tottenham fans with the Europa League trophy in his 485 arms (Justin Tallis/Getty Images) 486 487 In Postecoglou’s second season, Son’s last at Spurs, their captain struggled 488 with injuries. He only scored two league goals after Christmas. He looked like 489 he had lost some of his explosive pace, the burst that always gave him the 490 space to shoot. He was absent for the big games — Eintracht Frankfurt away in 491 the quarter-final’s second leg, both legs of the semi against Bodo/Glimt — on 492 Spurs’ way to Bilbao. 493 494 Advertisement 495 496 But Postecoglou still knew how important Son was going into that final. Even 497 though he knew his skipper was not fit enough to start the game, and that 498 Richarlison had proven how useful he could be playing on the left. So 499 Postecoglou reminded his players of Son’s significance, as the living 500 representation of the club. Lifting that trophy would change perceptions of 501 him, just as it would of Tottenham as a club. 502 503 “If we can elevate Sonny to a level above some of the best players that have 504 ever played for this club by winning something and having him lift a trophy, 505 we’re all going to be part of something special,” Postecoglou told his players. 506 “We’re going to be part of his legacy.” 507 508 This is why the images at the end of the match, with Son overwhelmed by 509 emotion, were so powerful. The fact he had stayed through the hard times made 510 his eventual triumph, leading Spurs to the promised land, even more emphatic. 511 His journey was Tottenham’s journey. His vindication was Tottenham’s 512 vindication. His tears were Tottenham’s tears. 513 514 Few players get to leave after a moment this perfect or this fulfilling. His 515 10-year arc at Spurs was complete. But even fewer players deserve the perfect 516 ending like Son did. 517 518 Because he embodied the joy of football played well, the shared thrill as he 519 burst past a defender, the graceful way he found the corner of the net. But 520 also because he embodied the joy of people. He never hid his emotions on the 521 pitch, or his love for his team-mates or colleagues or the fans who supported 522 him. 523 524 When he scored, or Spurs won, he radiated happiness, as if he felt he was the 525 luckiest man in the world to be getting these goals for this team. And he 526 wanted fans to share that luck and share that joy with him, too. 527 528 Additional reporting: Charlie Eccleshare, Jay Harris, Dan Kilpatrick 529 530 (Top photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton) 531 [42] 532 Connections: Sports Edition 533 Connections: Sports Edition 534 Jan 1, 2025 535 Connections: Sports Edition 536 Spot the pattern. Connect the terms 537 Find the hidden link between sports terms 538 Play today's puzzle 539 You are signed up for email reminders. 540 Tagged To: 541 [44]Son Heung-min 542 [45]Premier League 543 [46]Soccer 544 [47]Tottenham Hotspur 545 [48]South Korea 546 []Jack Pitt-BrookeJack Pitt-Brooke 547 548 [49]Jack Pitt-Brooke is a football journalist for The Athletic based in London. 549 He joined in 2019 after nine years at The Independent. Follow Jack on Twitter 550 [50]@JackPittBrooke 551 552 National 553 [51]Boxing 554 [52]Bundesliga 555 [53]Champions League 556 [54]Championship 557 [55]College Football 558 [56]College Sports 559 [57]Copa America 560 [58]Copa del Rey 561 [59]Culture 562 [60]Europa League 563 [61]European Championship 564 [62]FA Cup 565 [63]Fantasy Baseball 566 [64]Fantasy Basketball 567 [65]Fantasy Football 568 [66]Fantasy Hockey 569 [67]Fantasy Premier League 570 [68]FIFA Club World Cup 571 [69]Formula 1 572 [70]Gaming 573 [71]Global Sports 574 [72]Golf 575 [73]International Football 576 [74]La Liga 577 [75]League Cup 578 [76]League One 579 [77]League Two 580 [78]Memorabilia & Collectibles 581 [79]Men's College Basketball 582 [80]Men's World Cup 583 [81]Mixed Martial Arts 584 [82]MLB 585 [83]MLS 586 [84]Motorsports 587 [85]NASCAR 588 [86]NBA 589 [87]NFL 590 [88]NHL 591 [89]NWSL 592 [90]Olympics 593 [91]Opinion 594 [92]Peak 595 [93]Premier League 596 [94]Scottish Premiership 597 [95]Serie A 598 [96]Soccer 599 [97]Sports Betting 600 [98]Sports Business 601 [99]Tennis 602 [100]Top Sports News 603 [101]WNBA 604 [102]Women's College Basketball 605 [103]Women's Euros 606 [104]Women's Hockey 607 [105]Women's Soccer 608 [106]Women's World Cup 609 [107]The Athletic Ink 610 [108]Podcasts 611 [109]Headlines 612 US 613 [110]Arizona 614 [111]Atlanta 615 [112]Baltimore 616 [113]Bay Area 617 [114]Boston 618 [115]Buffalo 619 [116]Carolina 620 [117]Chicago 621 [118]Cincinnati 622 [119]Cleveland 623 [120]Columbus 624 [121]Dallas 625 [122]Denver 626 [123]Detroit 627 [124]Houston 628 [125]Indiana 629 [126]Jacksonville 630 [127]Kansas City 631 [128]Las Vegas 632 [129]Los Angeles 633 [130]Memphis 634 [131]Miami 635 [132]Minnesota 636 [133]Nashville 637 [134]New Orleans 638 [135]New York 639 [136]Oklahoma 640 [137]Oregon 641 [138]Orlando 642 [139]Philadelphia 643 [140]Pittsburgh 644 [141]Sacramento 645 [142]San Antonio 646 [143]San Diego 647 [144]Seattle 648 [145]St. Louis 649 [146]Tampa Bay 650 [147]Utah 651 [148]Washington DC 652 [149]Wisconsin 653 Canada 654 [150]Calgary 655 [151]Edmonton 656 [152]Montreal 657 [153]Ottawa 658 [154]Toronto 659 [155]Vancouver 660 [156]Winnipeg 661 Partners 662 [157]Collectibles by eBay 663 [158]Odds by BetMGM 664 [159]Streaming by Fubo 665 [160]Tickets by StubHub 666 Subscribe 667 [161]Start Subscription 668 [162]Group Subscriptions 669 HQ 670 [163]About Us 671 [164]Careers 672 [165]Code of Conduct 673 [166]Editorial Guidelines 674 [167]Business Inquiries 675 [168]Press Inquiries 676 Support 677 [169]FAQ 678 [170]Forgot Password? 679 [171]Contact Us 680 [172]Terms of Service 681 Newsletters 682 [173]The Pulse 683 [174]The Bounce 684 [175]The Windup 685 [176]Prime Tire 686 [177]Full Time 687 [178]Until Saturday 688 [179]Scoop City 689 [180]The Athletic FC 690 [181]MoneyCall 691 [182]Red Light 692 [183] 693 ©2025 The Athletic Media Company, [184]A New York Times Company 694 [185]Privacy Policy 695 [186]Your Ad Choices 696 [187]Support 697 [188]Sitemap 698 [189] 699 Twitter 700 [190] 701 Facebook 702 [191] 703 Instagram 704 [192] 705 []Download on the App StoreDownload on the App Store 706 [193] 707 []Get it on Google PlayGet it on Google Play 708 709 References: 710 711 [1] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/ 712 [2] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/nfl/ 713 [3] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/nba/ 714 [4] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/mlb/ 715 [5] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/nhl/ 716 [6] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/wnba/ 717 [7] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/college-football/ 718 [8] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/golf/ 719 [9] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/womens-euros/ 720 [10] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/fifa-club-world-cup/ 721 [11] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/college-basketball/ 722 [12] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/womens-college-basketball/ 723 [13] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/premier-league/ 724 [14] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/tennis/ 725 [15] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/sports-leadership-personal-development/ 726 [16] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/global-sports/ 727 [17] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/mls/ 728 [18] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/nwsl/ 729 [19] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/fantasy/baseball/ 730 [20] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/fantasy/football/ 731 [21] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/ 732 [22] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/womens-football/ 733 [23] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/formula-1/ 734 [24] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/olympics/ 735 [25] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/sports-business/ 736 [26] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/opinion/ 737 [27] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/sports-betting/ 738 [28] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/sports-memorabilia-and-collectibles/ 739 [29] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/college-sports/ 740 [30] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/culture/ 741 [31] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/motorsports/ 742 [32] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/nascar/ 743 [33] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/womens-hockey/ 744 [34] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/mma/ 745 [35] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/boxing/ 746 [36] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/tag/the-pulse/ 747 [37] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/ 748 [38] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/live-blogs/nfl-training-camp-2025-live-updates-news-injuries/wKpOIa2usaLl/ 749 [39] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/news/ 750 [40] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/connections-sports-edition 751 [41] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/author/jack-pitt-brooke/ 752 [42] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/connections-sports-edition 753 [44] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/player/son-heung-min-i8anqhPOK1u8ImfB/ 754 [45] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/premier-league/ 755 [46] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/ 756 [47] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/team/tottenham-hotspur/ 757 [48] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/team/south-korea/ 758 [49] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/author/jack-pitt-brooke/ 759 [50] https://twitter.com/JackPittBrooke 760 [51] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/boxing/ 761 [52] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/bundesliga/ 762 [53] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/champions-league/ 763 [54] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/efl-championship/ 764 [55] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/college-football/ 765 [56] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/college-sports/ 766 [57] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/copa-america/ 767 [58] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/copa-del-rey/ 768 [59] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/culture/ 769 [60] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/europa-league/ 770 [61] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/european-championship/ 771 [62] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/fa-cup/ 772 [63] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/fantasy/baseball/ 773 [64] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/fantasy/basketball/ 774 [65] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/fantasy/football/ 775 [66] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/fantasy/hockey/ 776 [67] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/fantasy-premier-league/ 777 [68] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/fifa-club-world-cup/ 778 [69] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/formula-1/ 779 [70] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/gaming/ 780 [71] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/global-sports/ 781 [72] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/golf/ 782 [73] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/international-football/ 783 [74] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/la-liga/ 784 [75] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/efl-league-cup/ 785 [76] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/efl-league-one/ 786 [77] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/efl-league-two/ 787 [78] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/sports-memorabilia-and-collectibles/ 788 [79] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/college-basketball/ 789 [80] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/world-cup/ 790 [81] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/mma/ 791 [82] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/mlb/ 792 [83] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/mls/ 793 [84] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/motorsports/ 794 [85] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/nascar/ 795 [86] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/nba/ 796 [87] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/nfl/ 797 [88] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/nhl/ 798 [89] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/nwsl/ 799 [90] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/olympics/ 800 [91] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/opinion/ 801 [92] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/sports-leadership-personal-development/ 802 [93] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/premier-league/ 803 [94] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/scottish-premiership/ 804 [95] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/serie-a/ 805 [96] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/ 806 [97] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/sports-betting/ 807 [98] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/sports-business/ 808 [99] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/tennis/ 809 [100] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/top-sports-news/ 810 [101] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/wnba/ 811 [102] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/womens-college-basketball/ 812 [103] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/womens-euros/ 813 [104] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/womens-hockey/ 814 [105] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/womens-football/ 815 [106] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/football/womens-world-cup-soccer/ 816 [107] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/ink/ 817 [108] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/podcasts/ 818 [109] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/news/ 819 [110] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/arizona/ 820 [111] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/atlanta/ 821 [112] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/baltimore/ 822 [113] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/bayarea/ 823 [114] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/boston/ 824 [115] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/buffalo/ 825 [116] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/carolina/ 826 [117] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/chicago/ 827 [118] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/cincinnati/ 828 [119] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/cleveland/ 829 [120] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/columbus/ 830 [121] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/dfw/ 831 [122] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/denver/ 832 [123] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/detroit/ 833 [124] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/houston/ 834 [125] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/indiana/ 835 [126] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/jacksonville/ 836 [127] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/kc/ 837 [128] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/vegas/ 838 [129] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/losangeles/ 839 [130] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/memphis/ 840 [131] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/miami/ 841 [132] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/mn/ 842 [133] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/nashville/ 843 [134] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/neworleans/ 844 [135] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/newyork/ 845 [136] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/oklahoma/ 846 [137] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/oregon/ 847 [138] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/orlando/ 848 [139] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/philly/ 849 [140] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/pittsburgh/ 850 [141] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/sacramento/ 851 [142] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/sanantonio/ 852 [143] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/sandiego/ 853 [144] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/seattle/ 854 [145] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/stlouis/ 855 [146] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/tampabay/ 856 [147] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/utah/ 857 [148] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/dc/ 858 [149] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/wisconsin/ 859 [150] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/calgary/ 860 [151] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/edmonton/ 861 [152] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/montreal/ 862 [153] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/ottawa/ 863 [154] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/toronto/ 864 [155] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/vancouver/ 865 [156] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/location/winnipeg/ 866 [157] https://www.ebay.com/b/Sports-Memorabilia-Fan-Shop-Sports-Cards/64482/bn_1857919?mk[%E2%80%A6]55-0&siteid=0&campid=5339067565&customid=&toolid=10001&mkevt=1 867 [158] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/sports-betting/odds/ 868 [159] https://www.fubo.tv/stream/the-athletic/?irad=2158783&irmp=5579095&ftv_campaign=PtnrUS_TA_VanityURL&sharedid=PtnrUS_TA_VanityURL 869 [160] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/tickets/ 870 [161] https://www.nytimes.com/subscription/athletic?source=athletic&onboarded=false&redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2Fathletic%2Fwelcome2%2F%3Fredirect%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.nytimes.com%252Fathletic%252F6522100%252F2025%252F08%252F04%252Fson-heung-min-is-tottenham-tottenham-is-son-heung-min%252F 871 [162] https://www.nytimes.com/subscription/groups?Pardot_Campaign_Code_Form_Input=7FQLH 872 [163] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/about/ 873 [164] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/careers/ 874 [165] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/code-of-conduct/ 875 [166] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/edit-guidelines/ 876 [167] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/contact-us/ 877 [168] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/press/ 878 [169] https://theathletic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us 879 [170] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/forgot-password2/ 880 [171] https://theathletic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new 881 [172] https://help.nytimes.com/hc/en-us/articles/115014893428-Terms-of-Service 882 [173] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/newsletters/the-pulse/ 883 [174] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/newsletters/the-bounce/ 884 [175] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/newsletters/the-windup/ 885 [176] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/newsletters/prime-tire/ 886 [177] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/newsletters/full-time/ 887 [178] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/newsletters/until-saturday/ 888 [179] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/newsletters/scoop-city/ 889 [180] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/newsletters/the-athletic-fc/ 890 [181] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/newsletters/moneycall/ 891 [182] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/newsletters/red-light/ 892 [183] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/ 893 [184] https://www.nytimes.com/ 894 [185] https://help.nytimes.com/hc/en-us/articles/10940941449492-The-New-York-Times-Company-Privacy-Policy 895 [186] https://www.nytimes.com/privacy/cookie-policy#how-do-i-manage-trackers 896 [187] https://theathletic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new 897 [188] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/sitemap/ 898 [189] https://twitter.com/TheAthletic 899 [190] https://facebook.com/TheAthletic 900 [191] https://instagram.com/TheAthleticHQ 901 [192] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/the-athletic-sports-news/id1135216317 902 [193] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.theathletic