‘Best day ever!’ Son scoops Asian gold to avoid military service

Jakarta (AFP) – Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min was left beaming from ear to ear after winning an exemption from almost two years of military service by leading South Korea to Asian Games gold on Saturday.

The defending champions beat Japan 2-1 after extra time in steamy Cibinong, West Java as Lee Seung-woo and Hwang Hee-chan scored the goals that will allow 26-year-old Son to see out his new five-year deal with Spurs.

A late header from Ayase Ueda gave South Korea an almighty fright, but they survived a nervous last few moments to capture a record fifth Asian Games title.

Korean captain Son, substituted in the dying seconds to buy precious time, sprinted from the bench to embrace goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo, sobbing tears of joy as they rolled on the turf together.

“This is the best day in my life,” Son told AFP, clutching his gold medal.

“I’m so proud of my team-mates, they fought for 120 minutes. But without the Korean people behind us we couldn’t win this tournament. Of course when I see the people support me, I want to give something back and this is the best present for my life.”

The Koreans dominated the final but wasted several decent opportunities before substitute Lee broke the deadlock by smashing a left-foot shot into the roof of the net three minutes into extra time.

Son delivered a free kick for Hwang to ram home a towering header eight minutes later, before Ueda’s goal triggered late drama.

South Korea could have been three goals up by half-time, however, with Lee Jin-hyun blazing just over from distance and Son bundled over in the box for what replays suggested was a clear penalty.

Hwang Ui-jo went close as the Japan-based striker sought his 10th goal of the tournament before Japan captain Koji Miyoshi forced a sharp save from Jo.

– From tracksuit to camouflage –

Roared on by thousands of flag-waving “Red Devils” fans, the Koreans continued to press with Hwang rippling the side-netting just after the hour mark, but both sides wilted in the sapping conditions as the game wore on.

Failure to win gold could have been disastrous for Son’s career as the multi-millionaire footballer faced swapping his tracksuit for a camouflage kit and 21 months of national service, compulsory for South Korean men.

Spurs only released their forward to compete as one of three permitted over-age players at the far-flung, under-23 tournament because he pleaded with the London club.

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Klopp knew Alisson blunder was coming

Leicester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said he expected a blunder from new £65 million goalkeeper Alisson Becker, but hopes the Brazilian number one and the rest of his side learned their lesson in winning 2-1 at Leicester on Saturday.

Klopp’s men moved to the top of the Premier League with a perfect record of four wins from four games thanks to first-half goals from Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.

However, the visitors gave Leicester hope when Alisson was caught trying to dribble past Kelechi Iheanacho and the Nigerian squared for Rachid Ghezzal to score the first goal Liverpool have conceded this season.

Klopp warned after last weekend’s 1-0 win over Brighton that he wasn’t happy with some of Alisson’s risk taking when trying to play out from the back.

“We all have to learn from that, not just him. It was clear from last week that I thought it would happen. I didn’t think it would happen during the next match but we could have cleared twice the situation before,” said Klopp.

“He knows it was his mistake of course, he’s man enough to accept that. I told him the best game to do it was this one, because we won it. It’s all fine now and we’ve ticked that box as well.

“We don’t need to play all the balls back to Alisson, but he showed how cool he was after that when the crowd was trying to make him nervous.”

Despite a perfect start in terms of points, Liverpool are still to hit the heights they did in the second half of last season in reaching the Champions League final.

However, midfielder James Milner hailed the reds’ new-found ability to grind out results, which will be needed if they are to dethrone champions Manchester City and deliver a first Premier League title to Anfield for 29 years.

“Massive (result). It wasn’t a good performance in most aspects; pressing defending, keeping the ball, it was tough work. Sometimes in the Premier League you have got to win ugly and we did that,” said Milner.

“We are in as good a position as we can be after four games, won them all. But it is a long season, a lot more to improve. I’m pleased with how we have defended, but there is more to come from this team. It is early days, no one has hit top gear.”

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Son Heung-min wins Asian gold to avoid military service

Jakarta (AFP) – Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min is set to be spared almost two years of military service after leading South Korea to Asian Games gold on Saturday.

The defending champions beat Japan 2-1 after extra time in steamy Cibinong, West Java as Lee Seung-woo and Hwang Hee-chan scored the goals that will allow 26-year-old Son to see out his new five-year deal with Spurs.

A late header from Ayase Ueda gave South Korea an almighty fright, but they saw out a nervous last few moments to win a record fifth Asian Games title.

Korean captain Son, substituted in the dying seconds to buy precious time, sprinted from the bench to embrace goalkeeper Jo Hyeon-woo, sobbing tears of joy as they rolled on the turf together.

The Koreans dominated the final but wasted several decent opportunities before substitute Lee broke the deadlock by smashing a left-foot shot into the roof of the net three minutes into extra time.

Son delivered a free kick for Hwang to ram home a towering header eight minutes later, before Ueda’s goal triggered late drama.

South Korea could have been three goals up by halftime, with Lee Jin-hyun blazing just over from distance and Son bundled over in the box for what replays suggested was a clear penalty.

Hwang Ui-jo went close as the Japan-based striker went in search of his 10th goal of the tournament before Japan captain Koji Miyoshi forced a sharp save from Jo.

Roared on by thousands of flag-waving “Red Devils” fans, the Koreans continued to press as Hwang rippled the side-netting just after the hour mark but both sides wilted in the sapping conditions as the game went on.

Failure to win gold could have been disastrous for Son’s career as the multi-millionaire footballer faced swapping his tracksuit for a camouflage kit and 21 months of national service, compulsory for South Korean men.

Spurs only released their forward to compete as one of three permitted over-age players at the far-flung, regional under-23 tournament because he pleaded with the London club.

Nearly every able-bodied South Korean male is required to perform their military service before the age of 28, although the government rewards Asian Games gold medals and Olympic medals of any colour with an exemption.

Son was selected to play at the 2014 Asian Games but his former club Bayer Leverkusen refused to release him — and the Koreans scooped gold.

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Liverpool extend winning streak despite Alisson blunder

Leicester (United Kingdom) (AFP) – A goalkeeping howler from Alisson saw Liverpool concede for the first time this season, but they held on to win 2-1 at Leicester and extend their 100 per cent start to the Premier League season.

Goals from Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino in the first half gave table-toppers Liverpool a seemingly unassailable lead.

Leicester deservedly reduced the arrears through Rachid Ghezzal, who punished an embarrassing blunder from Alisson.

It was the first goal Jurgen Klopp’s side had conceded in 418 minutes of Premier League football going back to May 6 and the first Alisson had let in  club football since last season’s Champions League semi-final when he was playing for Roma, against Liverpool.

But Leicester couldn’t find the equaliser as Liverpool’s defence remained firm in front of Alisson to secure their fourth successive win heading into the international break.

Alisson’s counterpart Kasper Schmeichel, making his 300th appearance for Leicester after signing a new contract in midweek, was into the action within the first three minutes.

Mohamed Salah put Firmino through but he could only fire against Schmeichel’s legs, and from the rebound, Salah side-footed wide.

The Reds took a 10th-minute lead when Senegal winger Mane made the most of his ricochet off Harry Maguire from Andrew Robertson’s cross to bury left-footed to Schmeichel’s right for his third goal of the season.

Liverpool remained on top and Joe Gomez sent a header looping well over the bar from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s corner.

Leicester’s first chance came in the 22nd minute when Demarai Gray got away from a defender to latch on to Ghezzal’s pass and squeezed in a shot that Alisson smothered.

The home side continued to find it hard to open Liverpool up, and were being forced to try their luck from distance as James Maddison fired over from long range.

But they had eased themselves into the game and were finally starting to give Klopp’s side something to think about.

– Reds held firm –

Just as Leicester might have thought they had turned the tide, Liverpool broke away quickly and doubled their lead.

Salah forced Schmeichel to push his shot around the post, and from their second successive corner, Firmino met James Milner’s flag-kick with a firm header into the far corner of the net from 10 yards.

Leicester pressed to reduce the arrears following the restart and Ghezzal surprised Alisson with a low cross that bounced just wide of the far post.

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Brazilian Ronaldo close to buying Spanish club: newspaper

Madrid (AFP) – World Cup winner Ronaldo has reached a deal to buy 51 per cent of La Liga club Valladolid a regional daily reported on Saturday, citing “sources close to the operation.”

El Norte de Castilla, which is based in Valladolid said Ronaldo was paying 30 million euros ($34.8 million) and would complete the deal next week.

“The Brazilian star reached an agreement with Carlos Suarez, owner of more than 60 per cent of the shares of the company, on Thursday evening,” the newspaper wrote.

Ronaldo’s press secretary, David Espinar, told AFP by email that he was not prepared to comment on the story.

The Spanish media have been reporting the former Real Madrid and Barcelona striker’s interest in Valladolid round the time the club won promotion back to the Spanish first division in May.

The newspaper said Ronaldo was attracted by the way the club is being run and that the takeover would not “lead to great changes in the club structure” and that Suarez, who has run the club for 17 years, would continue as president and Sergio Gonzalez would remain head coach.

“Ronaldo does not want to be the visible head and prefers to stay in the background,” the newspaper wrote.

The report said the two sides had tried to negotiate as discretely as possible to avoid having an impact on the club’s dealings in the summer transfer window, which closed on Friday.

Ronaldo, who is 41, was the tournament’s top scorer as Brazil won the  World Cup in 2002 and was also part of the winning squad in 1994. His long list of individual honours include winning the FIFA player of the year three times and the Ballon D’Or twice. “Il Fenomeno” retired in 2011. 

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Lyon footballer Depay devastated after burglary

Lyon (AFP) – Lyon’s Dutch forward Memphis Depay had his house burgled during Friday’s Ligue 1 home loss to Nice with the thieves reportedly getting away with a massive 1.5 million euros haul ($1.75 million).

Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas said the player was distraught, but thought the police had good leads to go on.

“He’s beside himself, he had a great deal of valuables in his home,” said Aulas although Lyon police said it was too early to say exactly what the 23-year-old had lost during the break in.

“We haven’t suffered too much from this kind of thing so far,” said the club president in reference to a string of burglaries that have hit the French football community including Arsenal manager Unai Emery when he was at PSG last season.

“Anyway, the police are on the case, they took prints and there are cameras all over the place. As with all succesful people, there’s high security at his house,” Aulas said.

Depay had a quiet night on the pitch as Lyon went down 1-0 at home to Nice.

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PSG make surprise move for Choupo-Moting as transfer window shuts

Paris (AFP) – Paris Saint-Germain made a surprise move to sign the Cameroon forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting late on Friday night just before the transfer window closed around Europe.

Choupo-Moting, 29, has signed a two-year deal with the French champions as a free agent after leaving Stoke City, who were relegated from the English Premier League at the end of last season.

It is an intriguing move, and a world away from the blockbuster deals of August 2017 when PSG committed the two biggest transfer fees in history to sign Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

But Choupo-Moting provides an extra option in attack for coach Thomas Tuchel and has plenty of experience at the top level in Germany, where he played for Hamburg, Mainz and Schalke 04.

Choupo-Moting’s arrival follows that of Spanish left-back Juan Bernat, signed for 15 million euros ($17.4m) from Bayern Munich late in the window for PSG, who are under pressure to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules.

The early closure of the transfer window in England this year, and in Italy, meant a less chaotic final day of August than usual this year.

There were still notable moves elsewhere in France, though, with Lyon spending 22 million euros on Celtic’s France under-21 international striker Moussa Dembele.

Meanwhile, Monaco signed Belgium midfielder Nacer Chadli from West Bromwich Albion on a three-year deal for a fee of 12 million euros.

Monaco have sold several leading players this summer, most notably France winger Thomas Lemar, who joined Atletico Madrid for 72 million euros.

That was one of the biggest deals anywhere in Europe, although Cristiano Ronaldo’s 100 million-euro move from Real Madrid to Juventus in July eclipsed everything else.

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