As Kaoru Mitoma (26, Brighton), who has entered the English professional football Premier League (EPL), is fiercely pursuing Son Heung-min (31, Tottenham), the ‘EPL Korea-Japan match’ is attracting attention.
Mitoma led the team’s 1-0 victory by scoring a dramatic header-winning goal at the end of the 2022-23 EPL round 22 home game against Bournemouth held at Amex Stadium in Brighton, England on the 5th (Korean time).
It was Mitoma’s 5th goal of the season and his 2nd consecutive goal.
Mitoma, who made his debut in the EPL this season, was initially used as a bench resource, but gradually improved his value and took the starting position.
After the 2022 Qatar World Cup break, he is showing an amazing performance. Including the goal against Bournemouth that day, he scored 4 goals in his last 5 games.
Even in the 20th round against Liverpool, where he failed to score a goal, he played with the opponent’s defense with great speed and footing, contributing to the team’s 3-0 victory.
Mitoma was recognized early on in Japan as a player approaching the world level.
In his first professional team, Kawasaki Frontale (Japan), he dominated the Japanese stage by scoring 30 official goals in one and a half seasons from 2020. He entered the European stage by joining Brighton in the summer of 2021, and his ability was recognized by scoring 8 goals in the official match in the Belgian league, where he was immediately transferred on loan. He then joined the Brighton first team this season.
Japanese soccer fans are cheering that a goalkeeper who can surpass Son Heung-min has finally appeared in Japan. Korean fans also nicknamed Mitoma ‘Red Toma’ and show great interest in his performance.
Mitoma is no match for Son Heung-min in the career scoring record.
Son Heung-min has been on the European stage for more than 10 years, scoring 139 goals in official matches in Germany and England, and in the EPL, he scored 97 goals, leaving only 3 goals to complete the 100th goal ‘Holden Tower’.
However, looking at the EPL scoring pace this season, it is true that Mitoma is fast. Son Heung-min is recording 4 goals in the EPL, 1 goal short of Mitoma. If this trend continues, Mitoma will be remembered as the best Asian striker in the EPL this season. However, Son Heung-min, who was sluggish until the middle of the season due to an arm fracture injury, recently showed improved performance, making it difficult to predict the results of a season based on his records so far. 바카라
Son Heung-min recently scored multiple goals in the 4th round match (Tottenham won 3-0) of the English Football Association (FA) Cup with Preston.
Even in Son Heung-min’s team, Tottenham, Mitoma is a difficult existence. Tottenham are currently in 5th place (36 points). The realistic goal is to be in the top 4, where tickets to advance to the European Football Federation (UEFA) Champions League (UCL) are given next season.
However, thanks to Mitoma’s performance, Brighton rose to 6th place (34 points), below Tottenham’s jaw.
If Brighton continues the momentum of 3 wins and 1 loss in the last 4 games in the second half, it may become more difficult for Tottenham to enter the top 4.
