Football
John Duerden, Asia correspondent 6y

Spurs star Son Heung-Min says he still hasn't matched Park Ji-Sung

Son Heung-Min may have overtaken Park Ji-Sung in terms of goals scored in the Premier League, but the Tottenham Hotspur forward insists that he has much to do to match his compatriot ahead of an important week of international football.

Son scored the only goal of the game at Wembley on Sunday as Spurs defeated Crystal Palace 1-0.

It marked his 20th goal in the league since joining the club in the summer of 2015, taking him past Park, who played for Manchester United from 2005 to 2012.

"I have broken the record, but I still have a long way to go to catch Park," Son told South Korean media. "I scored, but good players do more than that."

It was a hard-fought and important win for Tottenham, who had defeated Real Madrid 3-1 at the same stadium just four days earlier.

Son's goal just after the hour was a sumptuous curling shot from the edge of the area, but he insisted that he is hungry to keep scoring and improving.

"I had a number of chances," Son said. "I am disappointed to score just the one goal, but the important thing is that we got the three points."

The goal was his second of the league season, so the former Bayer Leverkusen man has some way to go to match last season's tally of 14.

"I scored many goals last season and ,that has raised expectations, but if I think too much about that it can affect me," Son added.

South Korea will be hoping that the 25-year-old brings his shooting boots home for two 2018 World Cup warm-up games against Colombia in Suwon on Friday, and Serbia in Ulsan four days later.

With the Taeguk Warriors winning just one match in 2017, while failing to impress in qualification for Russia, Son is happy that that there will be tough tests for the 2002 World Cup semifinalists.

"It is good to play strong teams," Son said. "If we played weaker teams then we can win, and it can improve our confidence, but there are no weak teams at the World Cup.

"These will be good tests for us to find out where we need to improve and prepare going forward."

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