Son Heung-min’s big chance miss continues to be talked about.
Tottenham Hotspur fell to Manchester City 0-2 in the 34th round (net) of the 2023-24 Premier League (PL) at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, at 4 a.m. ET on Friday. The loss ended Tottenham’s hopes of a fourth-place finish and a spot in the UEFA Champions League (UCL).
The first half was a tight affair. Both teams shared the best chances. In the fifth minute, Spurs had a threatening mid-range effort from Rodrigo Bentancur. Ederson stretched out to make the save. City didn’t stand still. In the 15th minute, Phil Foden took advantage of a Tottenham mishandling of the ball and went straight at goal, but his shot was saved by Guglielmo Vicario. The first half ended 0-0.
In the second half, City struck first. In the sixth minute of the second half, Kevin De Bruyne’s cutback was finished by Elling Holland. City took a 1-0 lead.
Tottenham were looking for an equalizer. They had a golden opportunity. In the 41st minute of the second half, a mistake was made in the City defense. Tottenham pounced on it and won possession, leaving Son Heung-min with a one-on-one opportunity. He looked to the far post with his right foot but was denied by goalkeeper Stephan Ortega.
After missing the perfect opportunity, Tottenham failed to equalize and conceded a penalty in stoppage time. Holland stepped up to take the spot kick and the game ended 0-2. And with that, their UCL hopes were completely dashed.
After the game, criticism was directed at 스포츠토토 Son Heung-min. It was argued that he missed the perfect chance to lose to Man City and that this was done to prevent Arsenal from winning the title. Arsenal fans were furious.
There are even cartoons that reflect this opinion. The U.S. Bleacher Report published a cartoon of Son Heung-min’s big misses on Friday. There were four cartoons in total, with Son facing Ortega’s goalkeeper and Arsenal players holding the PL trophy behind him. The cartoon ends with Son sweating and his shot being blocked. It was portrayed as if Son had missed out on Arsenal’s title. “This save, or this missed big chance, may have decided the title race,” the media added.
The story didn’t end there. There were also reports that Son had let Arsenal fans down. “Heung-min needed to show more,” said the UK’s Evening Standard. “Heung-min let Arsenal fans down when he was denied by Ortega,” said the Evening Standard.
It’s an absurd claim. The idea of deliberately missing a chance to prevent a rival team from winning the title is ridiculous. Son Heung-min even said before the 2-1 win over Burnley that he would do his best to qualify for the UCL. “The UCL is where every player wants to be,” he said. We still have three games left. We have to give it everything. In football, sometimes magic happens. We will do our best in the last three games,” he said. It would be absurd to suggest that a player so desperate to win would have deliberately missed a chance.