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At the beginning of Tottenham legend Son Heung-min, Mauricio Pochettino was there.
Pochettino attended a pre-press conference ahead of the match against the South Korean national football team A at Sports Illustrated Stadium in New Jersey on the 6th (Korea time).
Pochettino appeared at the press conference, and it was the meeting with his old student Son Heung-min that drew attention. Pochettino "It will be an amazing opportunity to see each other. They really care about each other and Son Heung-min was one of the most important players when I was at Tottenham."
Then "I've always watched Son Heung-min. I wanted to sign him when I was at Southampton, but I moved from Hamburg to Leverkusen"When he became Tottenham manager, he persuaded Son Heung-min to follow him and join Tottenham," he said.
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Pochettino, who has led Tottenham since 2014, is a person who directly led and grew Son Heung-min in 2015. Along with Paul Mitchell, Pochettino actively insisted on recruiting Son Heung-min and selected him as the future of the team's offense. However, it was not perfect from the beginning. Son Heung-min had difficulty adjusting after moving from Leverkusen to Tottenham. He failed to establish himself as the main player, and Wolfsburg showed interest in Son Heung-min in the summer of 2016 and considered a transfer.
But Pochettino caught Son Heung-min. He persuaded Son Heung-min, who chose to continue the competition at Tottenham. This choice was the decision to create a striker who would go down in Tottenham's history. Since then, Pochettino has had a glorious time, reaching the final of the European Champions League with Son Heung-min and finishing second.
Pochettino then left Tottenham in November 2019 and also coached Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar at Paris Saint-Germain in 2021. He returned to the English Premier League (EPL) after taking over as Chelsea manager, but left the team after a season. He returned to the field in September last year after taking charge of the U.S. national team, and has been leading the team so far. Since Tottenham, he has continued his somewhat disappointing career.
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Son Heung-min, who grew into a world-class striker under Pochettino, continued his career as a legend at Tottenham even after Pochettino left. Son Heung-min, who played in 454 games and scored 173 goals and 101 assists for Tottenham, changed the club's history for 10 years after joining Tottenham in 2015.He became the team's first Asian captain, and both the EPL's top scorer and the Puskas are the first and only Asian players to date. It also erased Tottenham's dark history in the 2024-2025 season. As a captain this summer, he decided to finish beautifully by presenting the trophy in the Europa League (UEL), and left Tottenham.
Although the careers of the disciples and teachers continued to be slightly different after the breakup, they did not hide their affection for each other ahead of the confrontation. Son Heung-min also said in an interview ahead of this game, "(Coach Pochettino is a person who taught me so much that I think it's my 'eunsa', and I have great respect for him. I'm on the other side, but I'm very happy to see you again."
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Meanwhile, Pochettino also praised his student for choosing a new challenge and heading to the U.S. Major League Soccer. He said "What Son Heung-min will bring to MLS would be really cool. Son will set a good example not only for his teammates but also for his opponents,' he said. `Son's transfer means that his level of MLS has increased. With players like Son Heung-min joining the team, it will become a more interesting and attractive league" he evaluated.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
