The secretariat of the English Premier League (PL) held a vote on the best Korean PL leaguer ever through its official SNS account on the 8th (Korea Standard Time). The candidates were Son Heung-min, Park Ji-sung, Hwang Hee-chan, and Lee Chung-yong. At this point, the overwhelming number one vote is Son Heung-min.
Korea, which aims to win its first Group E title in 64 years, will play with Bahrain (Jan. 15), Jordan (Jan. 20) and Malaysia (Jan. 25) in Group E in turn. If Korea tops Group E, its opponent in the round of 16 teams will be No. 2 in Group D. It is one of Japan, Indonesia, Iraq and Vietnam. The second-ranked team will face the first-ranked team in Group F, which includes Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, and Oman. 토토사이트 추천
More than any other Asian team, Korea desperately wants to win the title. Korea, which is suffering from the Asian Cup jinx, has won the title in consecutive events at the first event in 1956 and the second event in 1960. However, Korea has been in second place only four times over the next 63 years, which has nothing to do with winning the title.
Although it has boasted Asia’s best performance every time, strangely, South Korea has many unfortunate scenes at the Asian Cup, leading to the term “the curse of the Asian Cup.” In the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia, the host country lost to Australia after extra time, and in the 2019 Asian Cup in Qatar, it lost to Qatar, the winner, 0-1 in the quarterfinals.
That’s why he has a different attitude toward the Asian Cup. In particular, there is a possibility that it will be the last Asian Cup for Son Heung-min, the captain of the national team, and 2024, when world class players such as Kim Min-jae, Lee Kang-in, and Hwang Hee-chan are in their prime, is the best time for Korea to recover the Asian throne.
In particular, the PL-born strikers show strong formality. Both players have been very active in the English Premier League (PL) of the world’s best soccer league this season, overtaking the status of Korean soccer. Son Heung-min scored 12 goals and five assists, and Hwang Hee-chan scored 10 goals and three assists, ranking among the top players in the league.
First of all, Tottenham’s Son Heung-min, who showed poor performance last season, achieved 17 offensive points by scoring 12 goals and five assists in 20 games this season. This is more than the 16 offensive points (10 goals and six assists) he had accumulated last season in the league. Son has surpassed his league record in just one season in 20 games. Notably, he had four goals and four assists in seven games in December.
This is the most offensive point among PL players in December. He has one goal and one assist against Manchester City, one goal and two assists against Newcastle, one goal against Everton, one assist against Brighton, and one goal against Bournemouth. Naturally, he was named PL Player of the Month in December.
Meanwhile, Son was named Player of the Month this season last September. This is his fourth win, following September 2016, April 2017, and October 2020. Son is turning Tottenham into his own team, filling Harry Kane’s void.
Unlike Son Heung-min, who was expected to some extent, Hwang Hee-chan’s complete adaptation to the PL is also welcome. He has 10 goals and 3 assists in 20 league games this season. He is showing off his one-shot one-kill instinct in Wolverhampton, which is less powerful than Tottenham.
There is a reason why Hwang Hee-chan’s scoring ability gives me goosebumps. It is Hwang Hee-chan’s overwhelming determination to score 10 goals by shooting 13 out of 31 shots on target. The killer instinct is shining that leads to a situation where there are relatively few attack chances.
For the Asian Cup, the PL secretariat asked who was the best among all Korean PL players, including Son Heung-min and Hwang Hee-chan. First, the candidates were Korean PL leaguers Park Ji-sung, senior player and “Blue Dragon” Lee Chung-yong, the most famous Korean player Son Heung-min, and the youngest Hwang Hee-chan. Unfortunately, Ki Sung-yueng, the former captain of the national team, was not named.
The result of the vote was rather one-sided. The poll, which was conducted on the official YouTube community of the PL, drew 210,000 people. The result was 74 percent for Son, 23 percent for Park Ji-sung, 2 percent for Hwang Hee-chan, 2 percent for Lee Chung-yong, and 1 percent for Lee. This seems to reflect Son’s overwhelming performance to the point where he won the PL top scorer in the past. Park Ji-sung, a somewhat past player, was also recognized as one of the members who led Manchester United’s heyday and won high votes.
Koreans’ challenge to the PL league started with Park Ji-sung. At a time when Koreans set various records including top scorer and others to win their first PL championship, overseas expansion began in earnest to the point where they personally voted for the best Korean PL leaguer ever. Attention is focusing on what kind of results Korean PL leaguers will be able to produce in the future.
