Seoul: A day after announcing his decision to leave Tottenham Hotspur, South Korean football icon Son Heung-min bid an emotional farewell to fans in his homeland Sunday. Son started Spurs' preseason match against Newcastle United at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul and played 65 minutes. This was Tottenham's third trip to South Korea in four summers for preseason matches, and also the most emotionally charged appearance, given Son's imminent departure from the only Premier League club he's played for over the past 10 years.
According to Yonhap News Agency, 64,773 fans braved humid and rainy conditions Sunday to get their final glimpse of Son in his Spurs shirt. There were more white "Son 7" shirts than other uniforms in the stands, and fans forming a sea of white held up signs expressing their sadness in seeing him leave the Premier League club and their pride in having been along for Son's successful 10-year ride in London. It was a full-on lovefest for Son well before the match began.
The 66,000-seat stadium was nearly full some 40 minutes before kickoff when Son led his team out for the prematch warmup, and the South Korean captain drew huge cheers from the early birds. By far the loudest ovation was reserved for Son during the prematch player introduction, with Motley Crue's "Kickstart My Heart" blaring through the PA system.
Immediately after the match began, Spurs fans all over the stadium broke into the club's chant, "When the Spurs Go Marching In," set to the classic hymn "When the Saints Go Marching In." Then in the eighth minute, a Korean Spurs fan played the trumpet to lead the crowd to Son's cheer song, "Nice One, Sonny!"
Son was ruled offside twice early on when his teammates tried to send him on a fast break. Son won a free kick outside the box just after the half-hour mark, but a smattering of boos came down when Pedro Porro, not Son, stepped up to take the ensuing kick and missed. Son had his look in the 36th minute on a counterbreak but had his attempt from inside the box blocked by defender Fabian Schar.
Whenever Son had the ball in the left side of the box -- his favorite area on the pitch -- he was double- or triple-teamed, with Newcastle determined not to be rendered a side show. Then in the 65th minute, Son was subbed out for Mohammed Kudus, setting the stage for a teary goodbye. Son hugged his teammates, and even his Newcastle opponents came over to congratulate Son on his Spurs career and then playfully slap him as Son walked off the pitch to Megadeth's "Tornado of Souls."
Son handed over his captain's armband to Ben Davies and acknowledged the adoring fans with tears rolling down his face. Son then hugged every one of the reserves on the bench and his coaches, sharing an extra long embrace with his South Korean teammate, Yang Min-hyeok. Son tried to gather himself on the bench but became emotional again when he was shown on the stadium's two main scoreboards and more cheers came down for him. Well after Son left the match, another round of "Nice One, Sonny!" was played.
The goal that everyone came to see did not come, but thousands of fans still got to see Son's last dance with Tottenham in his native land. Tottenham will have two more matches before the start of the new Premier League season. They will travel to Munich to take on the Bundesliga side Bayern Munich in a club friendly on Thursday. As the reigning UEFA Europa League champions, Tottenham will face the Champions League winners, Paris Saint-Germain, in the UEFA Super Cup on Aug. 13 in Udine, Italy.
It wasn't immediately clear if Son will be around for those two matches. If this indeed was Son's final match with Tottenham, the 33-year-old will go down as one of the greatest players in the club's history. He ranks fifth on Tottenham's all-time list with 173 goals in 454 matches in all competitions. He won the Golden Boot in the 2021-22 season as the Premier League's top scorer. He remains the only Asian player to have captured that award. Then in May this year, Son captained Tottenham to the UEFA Europa League title for their first trophy in 17 years. He is one of only 13 players in team history to lift a trophy as captain.