In the year since Mothership last spoke to Son Heung Min, it really seemed like the South Korean soccer star was at the top of the world.

A prominent player for club and country, Golden Boot winner, a model professional beloved by millions.

But somehow he’s managed to take a step up.

Captain, my captain

Son, in addition to being captain of his national team of South Korea, has also been made captain of Tottenham Hotspur.

The opportunity was there upon the departure of the previous captain Harry Kane to German club Bayern Munich.

With this honour comes a tremendous amount of expectation and pressure, but Son seems to be dealing with it well.

He’s netted 15 goals and nine assists in the 2023/24 season so far.

This included thumping home a winner at Tottenham Stadium in the recent Easter weekend, after having been denied numerous times by the woodwork and a stunning goal line clearance against a determined Luton side, in what was one of the numerous London derbies that populate a very close English Premier League season.

And he’ll be going through even more pressure as Spurs push for a top four position.

While they may not be in the race to win the league, they’re in a tight race for the last definite Champions League position with Aston Villa.

They also face ancient rivals Arsenal, who must win at the Tottenham Stadium in order to keep their league ambitions alive.

Son and Spurs might not have the chance to win the league, but they get to decide it in one of England’s most hotly contested local derbies (they’re so close you can supposedly see the Emirates from the top of the Tottenham stadium).

Under pressure

So when AIA Singapore gave Mothership the chance to go speak with their brand ambassador Son, we had to ask how he coped with the pressure of the derbies, especially now that he was team captain.

AIA Singapore focus this year is solidly on mental wellness, and how to better cope with anxiety and stress.

It can be hard to imagine the cool, calm, and collected Son worrying, but it's more to do with a clear strategy in dealing with it, than any supernatural calm he possesses.

The AIA Singapore brand ambassador says that unlike other players who might say that these games mean more, and that teams up their game, he has an admirable alternative take.

Son said he took an “even approach” to the derbies.

There are no special games, it's not important if the opponent was Arsenal, if it was Manchester City, the reigning champions, or Luton.

“It's a normal game. A special game especially for the fans… but should play our (own) game”

All games posed their own challenge, and ultimately what was important was how he approached the opponents, not who the opponents were.

Derbies are not special games, Arsenal is not a more important adversary than Luton, it's important to take each game as it comes.

“So yeah, it’s a derby… but you (should) stay calm, and you’ll perform better.”

All eyes on him

Son said that he never expected to become captain of both club and country, and admitted that it placed a certain amount of pressure on his shoulders, pressure that he wanted to take on in “a positive way”, as he had all eyes on him.

And don’t think for a moment that this is just hype.

Touring around the Tottenham stadium the day before the match against Luton and on match day was eye-opening.

I started watching the Premier League when having even one Asian player in the league was a bit of a novelty.

Now, Son is not only a regular fixture in the league, he is unquestionably one of the best players, and also one of the most popular.

Whether it was a wall of shirts dedicated to him in the club Megastore, or the wall of South Korean flags in the stands after a match, he is the man of the moment.

It was delightful to see how many young children were wandering around, bearing his name on their backs, showing that Son had transcended national boundaries.

Unlucky Singapore

While speaking to him, I also pointed out to the South Korean captain a bit of trivia that was probably only relevant to Singaporeans and Malaysians; He’s probably the most high-profile player in the past decade to have played against both national teams.

In fact, he’s also played two other major regional teams, in Thailand and Vietnam in recent years, and scored against all.

So I asked what he thought of Southeast Asian football.

Rather diplomatically, he chose to focus on Singapore, commenting that in recent World Cup qualifying games against China, Singapore had been “a little bit unlucky with the results obviously”.

He said that the standard of football that Singapore, and all Asian teams, are facing have improved tremendously.

“In Asia, all the football has grown up, every team is really hard to play against.”

Son said that in years past, South Korea was able to beat every team (in Asia) easily.

“But now these games are really tough.”

This was, obviously, a good sign for Asian football, but it would require countries like Singapore to be patient.

Referencing Singapore’s recent change in manager to Tsutomu Ogura, Son said that Singapore fans had to be patient.

The situation could not improve overnight (he actually said a year), but things are going in the right direction.

Legends of the game

AIA Singapore also managed to arrange an interview with Spurs legend Osvaldo “Ossie” Ardiles, a man who had a unique view on the rise of Asian football.

Ossie is a Spurs legend from the ‘70s and ‘80s, spending 10 years with the London team, winning the FA Cup with them in 1981.

He was also part of the Argentina team that won the country’s first World Cup in 1978.

After a storied playing career, he turned his hand to management, returning to Spurs to manage them for a year, before a globe-spanning set of movies that saw him manage in Japan’s J-League, the Middle East, and his native South America.

Mothership asked if he was surprised at the rise of Asian football, especially with three Middle Eastern Countries crowding out the Semi-Finals, alongside South Korea.

To Ardiles, it has been a long time coming. His experience in Japan was informative, as he had been there at the dawn of J-League.

Then Japan had, in his view, kickstarted development of local football by seeding the league with prominent names, such as Gary Lineker, and also managers like Arsene Wenger and himself.

Gradually through that, the country’s footballing capability grew and grew, and Ardiles himself saw a similarity in what Saudi Arabia is doing with its significant investment in its clubs and players.

But like Son had, he emphasised that it was a process that would take time.

Top image via Tan Min-Wei