GOYANG, South Korea, Sept. 23 (Yonhap) — Frustrated by his earlier mistake that led to a Costa Rica goal, South Korea captain Son Heung-min was not a happy camper on Friday night — no even after his spectacular free-kick goal secured a 2-2 draw for the Taegeuk Warriors at home.
Son’s 86th-minute equalizer sent some 37,000 fans at Goyang Stadium, just northwest of Seoul, into a frenzy on a chilly autumn night. Otherwise, they would have been disappointed in the final World Cup tune-up against a side South Korea should have handled much more easily.
Costa Rica scored two unanswered goals to erase an early South Korean lead. At the second marker, Son had his pocket picked by Joel Campbell, who started a fast break that resulted in a Jewison Bennette goal.
“We were playing well at the moment, and I made a fundamental mistake in that situation, and it made life difficult for us,” Son said. “It’s entirely on me.”
Son said a mistake of this magnitude can never be made up for, even with a goal like the one he scored.
“If I had scored to help the team win, I could have overruled that mistake,” Son said. “Anyway, I made the game harder for the team than it should have been.”
The long-serving national team captain, however, insisted the rest of the squad were doing just fine.
“We created more scoring chances,” Son said. “We have to reduce errors, but our performance was not too bad at all”,
Son is now tied with former star Ha Seok-ju for South Korea’s all-time lead with four free-kick goals. The one against Costa Rica, set up when Costa Rican goalkeeper Esteban Alvarado was sent off for grabbing the ball outside the penalty area, was a classic free kick from Son – a well-struck right-footed shot that found the upper right corner.
“I don’t have a special recipe,” Son said of his successful free-kick. “I just practiced those shots after training sessions were over. I was lucky the ball moved the way I wanted it to. More than the goal, though, I’m just frustrated that we didn’t no don’t win today.”
As the reigning Premier League Golden Boot winner, Son will have the jackpot in every international match he plays. But he just doesn’t see it that way.
“I’m surrounded by so many talented players that I don’t think teams give me any special attention,” Son said. “I’m sure my teammates will have their share of opportunities and will have space to exploit.”
Settling for a draw against a lower-ranked side at home – South Korea came in 28th, six places above Costa Rica – is never ideal with the World Cup just two months away, but Son said he believed his team was still moving “in the right direction”.
“But I don’t think there is a perfect team,” he added. “So we have to keep analyzing ourselves and studying our opponents. We have to keep solving our problems, whether in attack or defence.”
