World Soccer - UK (2021-03)

BIOGRAPHY

religiously following the life lessons of

his father, Son Woong-jung. The latter

was no mean footballer himself – good

enough to play for top South Korean

outfit Ilhwa Chunma and the country’s

Under-23s, before a nasty Achilles

injury ended his career at just 28 – and

set about drumming home the message

that success in soccer could not be

achieved on a wing and a prayer, that it

was a difficult and exhausting industry

which required absolute commitment.

His father, all homespun philosophy

and authoritarian granite, not only

drilled his two sons (Heung-min and the

older Heung-yun) individually; he also

coached Son’s school team, devising a

training programme as unique as it was

demanding. For two hours every day,

the regime was the same: incessant

ball-juggling, learning how to control

the sphere with every part of the body

and intricate dribbling drills. It was basic,

it could be cruel and cocking a snook at

usual youth development ideas, Son

Woong-jung would not even allow his

boys to play in organised matches. Only

at the age of14 was Heung-min given

the green light to do so.

Tough love was very much the long

and short of this football education. Son

has since admitted that his father never

praised him, only communicating in

rebukes and reproaches. Son stuck with

the programme nevertheless. He still

loved football and looked up to his dad.

He had no wish to offend him.

Son Woong-jung, now running a

football academy in the family’s

hometown of Chuncheon in the

northern province of Gangwon, was

wont to overdo the master and slave

scenario. Following an altercation

between his two sons, his father

punished them by ordering to play

keepy-uppy for four hours straight.

Somehow, defying gravity and fatigue,

they complied. On another occasion the

grandmother of a neighbour, aghast at

the sight of more paternal heavy-

handedness, threatened to call the

police.

When Son scored on his Bundesliga

debut for Hamburg in a 3-2 win in Koln

in October 2010 – a cheeky effort in

which he clipped the ball over the

Rising star...Son

earned his move to

Leverkusen after

scoring12 Bundesliga

goals in 2012-13

Breakthrough...Son

made his name at

Hamburg