Son Heung-min believes South Korea must stop showing too much respect to football powerhouses if they want to succeed at next year’s World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
The captain’s comments came after South Korea bounced back from a 5-0 defeat to Brazil with a 2-0 win over Paraguay in Seoul. Son, who set a new national record with his 137th appearance against Brazil, said his side must adopt a more aggressive mindset.
“When we go up against strong teams, we have to think about how we can be more aggressive,” said Son, who currently plays for Los Angeles FC. “We respected Brazil too much and that had a big influence on the result. We now know how it feels to get punched like that — and we have to learn to fight back.”
South Korea, who famously reached the 2002 World Cup semi-finals, showed resilience against Paraguay, scoring through Eom Ji-sung and Oh Hyeon-gyu.
Son, who played only the first half, praised his teammates for their response after the Brazil defeat. “After a big loss, players can feel discouraged, but to see my teammates put that behind them and seize their chances made me really proud as captain,” he said.
With only 20,000 fans in attendance, Son also called for his team to play more exciting football to bring supporters back to the stands. “If we play better and more entertaining football, I’m sure the fans will return. That’s our responsibility.”
