- Korea Republic played pre-World Cup friendlies in Provo, drawing sellout crowds.
- Son Heung-min scored twice in Korea's 5-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago.
- BYU's South Field was chosen for its altitude and natural grass surface.
PROVO — BYU student Jonah Christensen spent two years as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Busan, Korea Republic, and everywhere he and his companions would go, they'd see a familiar face.
It was Son Heung-min, the former Tottenham Hotspur star who was since moved stateside to LAFC in Major League Soccer. Son's face would show up on buses, on billboards, and in markets they'd frequent that even a missionary with limited access to media knew him.
"He's a huge name," said Christensen, who returned home 2 1/2 years ago and came to Utah from his hometown of Des Moines, Iowa, for school. "He's up there with the most famous people in Korea, a super celebrity."
So when Christensen and a few friends heard that Son and the Korea Republic men's national team would play a pair of pre-World Cup friendly matches at BYU's South Field, they didn't hesitate to get tickets. Christensen isn't much of a sports fan — he's never been to a BYU women's soccer game at South Field — but there he was on the front row, several rows removed from his friend in the grandstand to watch the face from the ads he'd pass every day on his mission.
"It's a huge deal that he's come to Provo," he said.
Son tallied a first-half brace in Korea's 5-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago, the first of a pair of World Cup tune-up matches at altitude for the Taegeuk Warriors. Based in Guadalajara for this summer's FIFA men's World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, the Koreans looked for an America city to host them for friendlies with a few requests.
Stadium size wasn't an issue, and a sellout crowd of 3,454 ticketed fans — with standing room-only tickets prohibited — greeted the Tigers more than an hour before kickoff. Nutricost CEO and BYU super fan and donor Min Kim bought around 200 of them, a BYU spokesman noted.
They wanted a site at altitude, for training purposes, as well as a location close to an international airport. They also wanted a natural grass surface, which eliminated Real Salt Lake's training center at Zions Bank Stadium in Herriman from contention — though the facility was already hosting Bosnia for World Cup base camp, and is currently the site of the 384-team MLS NEXT Cup youth soccer tournament through Sunday.
After a source confirmed Korea initially approached Utah Valley and its recently renovated 3,000-seat stadium at Clyde Field, the Korean federation found everything it wanted at BYU. Add in the international broadcast capabilities of BYUtv, which streamed the match live both nationally and internationally, and the two sides came together within a few weeks.
Tickets sold even faster, with the get-in tickets as low as $35 reselling for as much as $200 in some cases on SeatGeek.
But it was worth every penny, added BYU student Collin Lovelady, who grew up playing soccer in Alpine and came to Saturday's match with three of his friends.
"When can you come to an international game like this in Provo?" he asked rhetorically. "I felt like we had to buy tickets quickly."
A longtime Spurs fan, Lovelady was among the throngs of Son supporters to see his hat trick when LAFC visited Real Salt Lake a year ago. He says he'll be back whenever he can to watch the world superstar in person, too.
"Just seeing the level that the plays at," he added. "As a soccer player, it's crazy to watch a guy who played in the Premier League, the top league in the world, and now he's here in America. And especially now that he's in Provo, no one can pass up that opportunity."
Along the the way, Korea likely picked up a few extra fans this summer from Utah. Within reason, that is.
"I've got to root for the U.S.," Christensen said. "But second, I'll be rooting for Korea."
Korea Republic will host El Salvador in a second pre-World Cup scrimmage Wednesday at 7 p.m. MDT. The match will air live on BYUtv and streamed at byutv.org.
