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Blasts from the past: Son Heung-min brushes off German, prepares to meet Poch

Published: 05 Sep. 2025, 11:04 Updated: 05 Sep. 2025, 13:37

JIM BULLEY
[email protected]

Son Heung-min, center, trains at Icahn Stadium in New York on Sept. 4. [NEWS1]

Son Heung-min will keep the Korean national team armband this weekend as the Taeguk Warriors take on the United States in New Jersey, where the Los Angeles FC star is also likely to be reunited with former manager and mentor Mauricio Pochettino.

Korea face Team USA on Saturday at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, or at 6 a.m. on Sunday on TV screens across Korea. It’s the first of two friendlies for the Taeguk Warriors, with a clash with Mexico also slated for Sept. 9. Both games are clearly 2026 FIFA World Cup tune-up games, with the United States, Mexico and Canada sharing hosting duties for that tournament.

Korea manager Hong Myung-bo confirmed earlier this week that Son will keep the captaincy for those friendlies. The 33-year-old has held the armband since 2018, despite Hong hinting even earlier this week that maybe it was time for a change.

But while things remain fairly normal at the national team — although Son’s long-time attacking partner Hwang Hee-chan is conspicuously absent due to a lack of club playing time — there are plenty of full circle moment callbacks to earlier in his career for the Korean captain this week.

Son Heung-min, right, and Mauricio Pochettino at Emirates Stadium in London on Dec. 2, 2018. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

The first and most obvious is Pochettino, the United States manager that recruited Son to Tottenham in 2015 and managed him at the club until 2019, including leading Spurs all the way to the Champions League final in the 2018-19 season.

Son and Pochettino will inevitably be reunited on the sidelines of Saturday’s game, the first time the Korean captain has faced a Pochettino-managed team since Spurs played Chelsea on May 2 last year.

But Son is also digging even further back into his career this week, as he brushes off his German skills to chat with new national team recruit Jens Castrop.

Son Heung-min, left, and Jens Castrop train at Icahn Stadium in New York on Sept. 4. [YONHAP]

Castrop, a 22-year-old Borussia Mönchengladbach midfielder, was the first mixed-race player to be called up to the Korean men’s national team. Born in Germany to a Korean mother and German father, Castrop is more comfortable speaking German than Korean.

Luckily, captain Son started his career at Hamburger SV and layer played for Leverkusen before making the league to the Premier League. Fluent in German, he has been both supporting Castrop in training and was caught on camera earlier in the week making fun of close friend Lee Jae-sung — who has played in Germany since 2018 — for having the German language ability of an elementary school student.

Castrop is expected to make his debut in the United States friendly on Saturday.

BY JIM BULLEY [[email protected]]