GUADALAJARA, Mexico — When South Korea take on Czechia at Estadio Guadalajara on Thursday evening, captain Son Heung-Min would have officially featured at four editions of the FIFA World Cup.
He has been his nation’s talisman for essentially a decade now, and is by far their most-experienced campaigner with 144 caps to his name — 39 ahead of the next in line in Lee Jae-Sung.
Even as he approaches his 34th birthday next month, Son remains South Korea’s most-pivotal figure — the one who their fortunes will revolve around.
And yet, for all that he has achieved on the biggest stage in football, the LAFC marquee signing reveals he still feels a sense of wonder and excitement as he prepares to shine under the bright lights of the World Cup once again.
“I’m very happy to be back on the World Cup pitch, which is something I dreamed of from a very young age,” said Son, in Wednesday’s prematch news conference for their Group A opener.
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“Whether it’s my first World Cup or fourth World Cup, I feel like a young boy again. This is the stage of dreams.
“It’s not something that can be expressed in one word. Whether it’s the first, fourth or sixth World Cup, our mindset must be the same when we participate in the World Cup.
“I think during [the last World Cup in] Qatar, we showed a lot of strength but also had losses and failures. I think those are lessons that we have learned from going forward.
“Of course, we are a little bit more mature and experienced. There are some changes [in personnel] but our mindset on the world stage is the same.
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“The atmosphere, right from the beginning now, is no problem at all. And whenever I see my teammates working so hard for the team, for Korea, sometimes I even have to calm them down.
“We’re very prepared and I hope that we will get a good result tomorrow because I’m sure they [his teammates] deserve it.”
South Korea have actually failed to win their opening match at the past three World Cups and, more often than not, it has left them with a huge early obstacle to overcome.
In 2014 and 2018, they ultimately failed to make it out of the group stage, while they only qualified for the round of 16 in 2022 after snatching a dramatic victory over Portugal — which came courtesy of a 91st-minute winner assisted by Son.
Nonetheless, Son downplayed the importance of South Korea rectifying their recent slow starts, insisting he would just take it one day at a time.
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“When it comes to the importance of the first match, I don’t live for tomorrow,” he explained.
“Today is the most important day for me and I need to develop myself. Today I will be focused on training.
“Tomorrow, I can think about tomorrow. Tomorrow, we will do our best.
“We have three matches during the group stage and every match will be very important. We’re going to play for our lives [and] we will try to go beyond our capacity and capabilities.”
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Meanwhile, South Korea coach Hong Myung-Bo is also looking forward to a second shot at the World Cup – after being at the helm of their ill-fated 2014 campaign, which was their worst World Cup performance since 1998 as they picked up just a solitary point in the group stage.
“I’m very honored this is my second World Cup as head coach,” said Hong.
“In 2014, we experienced failure. But, from then until today, we have accumulated a lot of experience and we are well prepared for this World Cup.
“You can never expect how the result might turn out to be so I just hope my players will enjoy the match tomorrow.”
