“I want to play football until my body says, ‘You can’t run anymore: you’re dead.’”
“Competition makes us all better and better.”
“I’ve been a bit unlucky with small injuries.”
“I’m never happy with my performances. I always want to prove more and more things.”
“Since we are not robots, we can’t always perform well.”
“When I am playing for my country, there is not a single match that I can take lightly.”
“At Tottenham Hotspur, we can share the pressure, but on the South Korea team, some of the players have more pressure than others.”
“I love Korean rice and Korean food in general. Korean barbecues are cool – there’s a table with a hole in it with fire coming through, and we throw meat on it.”
“I feel great when people say good things about me. But what’s important is that I have to show it on the pitch.”
“I watched the Olympics in 2012 in London, and there were so many great performances there, so many people, so many sports.”
“I really actually started when I was 10 years old, but before that, I loved to play with Father because he played as an ex-player. I just enjoyed it, so I started at 10 years old with Father to be a proper football player.”
“Unless I play like Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, it’ll be hard to give myself 100 out of 100.”
“Football is my happiness.”
“I like lots of Korean music that most people have probably never heard of. I also enjoy hip hop.”
“Football is about scoring, and if you want to do that, you have to go forward.”
“I’m happy at Tottenham.”
“Without team-mates, it’s difficult to play well.”
“If I’m on the pitch, I want to just try to give my best performance every game.”
“If I’m on the bench, I want to be ready.”
“I would like to score goals in every game.”
“Harry Kane is, of course, a very important player for England because he’s the best player in the world.”
“Paolo Guerrero is a good player – and Mladen Petric also. I think both are really good and even better than me.”
“Premier League is not an easy league; it’s one of the best.”
“I’m a really luck guy to play in the Premier League and have so many fans, so many supporters. This is a really lucky guy.”
“I’m always hungry. I can be better always.”
“He’s always with me; I’m always asking. He can be my father, or he can be my coach, or he can be an ex-player. I can ask him so many things. He teaches me a lot, and I’m really thankful.”
“It doesn’t matter who scores as long as we win the match. I’ll obviously try to get on the board, but the more important thing is to be prepared for the match.”
“When I play, I just try to score goals or assist someone – that’s my job.”
“Harry Kane is one of the best strikers in the world.”
“I’m a very lucky guy to play for my country, and I’m very happy and lucky to have this country.”
“Football sometimes goes up and down, and we need to accept the result.”
“I may play poorly at times, but I’ll always try to give my best effort.”
“It’s not easy, but I play with my body, and I can feel how important it is to get 100 percent fit to play. This is an important thing to play in the Premier League.”
“Every player’s dream is to play Champions League and the World Cup.”
“Football is about tackling, about winning the ball.”
“It is good to play strong teams.”
“I have scored some goals, but that is not everything, is it? Football is more than that.”
“It’s difficult for an Asian to play in the Premier League.”
“Winning the Asian Games is about the most important thing I have achieved for my country, and seeing the delight on the faces of the people back home is something that will last with me forever.”
“In every country I’ve gone to, if you smile at people, they are going to be happy. This is my attitude.”
“When I went to Germany, all I knew were German swear words.”
“Mum’s cooking is still the best thing. It’s very healthy.”
“Kyriakos Papadopoulos is really funny. So is Karim Bellarabi. They are full of jokes in the dressing room.”
“I always give 100% for my country.”
“I’m playing Premier League, but I’m still very hungry.”
“I want to be a top player.”
“I try my best, and I want to help my team-mates every game.”
“When I was at Hamburg, 17 or 18, Ruud van Nistelrooy signed, and he helped me a lot. He saw my first training session, and he talked to me. He told me I was a good player. He gave me confidence, and I want to thank him for that.”
“I wouldn’t have become the player I have without my father.”
Leave a Reply