South Korea and LAFC attacker Son Heung-min is focused on the present, but he's still keeping an eye on his former team. He has not, however, liked what he's seen.
After snapping a decades-long major trophy drought by helping Tottenham Hotspur to the 2024-25 UEFA Europa League title, Son departed for the U.S., where he found instant success in Major League Soccer.
Spurs, however, have gone in the opposite direction,heading into the last match of the Premier League season needing a result to avoid a first relegation since 1977.
“Watching Spurs is really painful because last year was such an amazing achievement,” he told USA TODAY Sports. “Then, I left the club, and I’m still watching the games. Obviously, with the time difference I couldn’t watch every single game, but I’m trying to watch every highlight and give my biggest support.
"Watching result by result, having a tough time, it just feels like I’m still there. But the good news is we are looking good, having some good results the last couple of weeks. That made me really positive. Of course, it’s not done yet, but I want to give my biggest support to my old team.
“This team is still in my heart, and probably (where) I learned most and grew up most. I just want to give the biggest support from the other side of the world.”
Many of those lessons came from Mauricio Pochettino, the manager when Spurs brought Son to London. The Argentine led the club to the final of the UEFA Champions League in 2018-19. Now the coach of the U.S. men’s national team, Pochettino said Son was like a son to him ahead of a friendly game between the U.S. and Korea in September 2025.
When the two saw each other before the match in Harrison, New Jersey, Pochettino wrapped Son in a hug that transported the Korean superstar, now 33, back to the moment when he first arrived in the Premier League.
“It kind of felt I was 23 years old,” Son said. “When I was 23, he brought me to Spurs. I think he taught me a lot of things, and I grew up as a man. Spending time with Mauricio was probably, I’d say, when I learned most as a human being but also as a footballer.
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“We still have an amazing relationship. I don’t want to play against Mauricio, but I just want to wish him all the best that he deserves and want to say I love him and am so grateful he was my coach and taught me some amazing stuff.”
Despite the personal tie, Son didn’t take things easy on the U.S. in that contest, scoring the opening goal of a 2-0 victory, but both Spurs icons now have their attention fixed on the World Cup. Son will take on a different North American power, with Korea drawn in Mexico’s group and also playing Czechia and South Africa in Group A.
Despite the good result against the U.S. and in other fall friendly matches, there is concern in Korea after March’s friendly games ended in a pair of defeats against other World Cup-bound squads, 4-0 to Ivory Coast and 1-0 to Austria.
Many fans are putting huge expectations directly on Son’s shoulders as the team’s biggest star and, even after his move to LAFC, the team’s best player. Yet, the Chuncheon native, who sits four goals away from becoming Korea's all-time leading scorer, insists that the rest of the squad will come through for him and vice versa this summer.
“I’m the captain, but this is a team sport. I don’t really care about all the stats, all the history. If we go further, I will be happier than anyone else,” Son said. “As a captain, you always have a lot of responsibility, a lot of weight on your shoulders, but I try to share with my teammates. I have amazing teammates who help share in these moments, this weight. Going to the World Cup is going to be a big challenge, but that’s why we love football.”
Son spoke to USA TODAY Sports as part of his role as a global brand ambassador for Hyundai, which is launching its Next Starts Now campaign aimed at inspiring innovation on soccer fields in the U.S. and in the auto factory.
It’s personal for Son, who parallel with his own rise to stardom not only has seen Korean automakers become a global fixture, but also Korean culture become in vogue withK-Pop group BTS scheduled to take part in the World Cup final halftime show,and movies like Parasite and TV programs like Squid Game becoming sensations in the U.S. and beyond.
“Seeing Korean brands on the biggest stage, Koreans on the biggest stage, as a Korean it’s a very proud” feeling, he said. “Being part of this as brand ambassador makes me so, so proud. Going into the biggest competition with that feeling makes me so happy.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Son Heung-min keeps up with Tottenham Hotspur in LA but says watching struggles has been "painful"
