Son Heung-min scores a screamer, plays through injury as South Korea thrash Singapore – ‘I can’t give up just because I’m hurt’
- Tottenham superstar stars in 5-0 Fifa World Cup qualifying victory and stays on pitch despite ankle injury
- ‘I am not the only one hurting out there. Playing for the national team is a tremendous honour,’ Son says
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Son Heung-min scored a beauty from outside the box South Korea thumped Singapore 5-0 on Thursday to launch their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign in style.
South Korea dominated possession at Seoul World Cup Stadium, and Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Hwang Hee-chan scored the second goal before Son got the third.
Cho Gue-song, Hwang Ui-jo and Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee Kang-in also scored as Jurgen Klinsmann’s side try to reach their 11th straight World Cup.
Hwang, who has scored six Premier League goals for Wolves this season, headed in a cross from Cho in the 49th minute. Son, who has scored eight league goals this season, curled in a shot from the edge of the area soon after.
“I’ve practised quite a bit from that particular spot. I am always confident when I take shots from there,” Son said. “Maybe it’s become a habit. And seeing the flight and speed of the shot, I thought it was going to go in.”
Son appeared to pick up an ankle injury late in the game but he stayed on the field to complete the 90 minutes.
“I am not the only one hurting out there. Everyone plays with some bumps and bruises,” Son said. “Playing for the national team is a tremendous honour … I can’t just give up just because I am hurt.”
Hong Kong go down to Iran defeat in opening World Cup qualifier
The continent’s top teams joined the Asian qualifying competition in the second round on Thursday. The top two teams from each of the nine groups of four in the second round will progress to the third stage.
Australia, chasing a seventh World Cup appearance, routed Bangladesh 7-0 in Melbourne. In Osaka, Ayase Ueda scored three goals in Japan’s 5-0 win over Myanmar. Daichi Kamada and Ritsu Doan also scored for Japan, who have appeared at the last seven World Cups.
South Korea’s victory will go a small way towards winning over some fans who are yet to be convinced about Klinsmann, but there are tougher assignments ahead, starting with China away on Tuesday.
“A huge compliment to the team, a very professional performance,” the German legend, South Korean coach since February, said.
“Five-nil is a nice scoreline to read but it doesn’t really show you the energy and effort you have to invest in order to get to that score line,” Klinsmann added.
“We needed to have patience. It’s very, very difficult to play teams like Singapore who basically come, first of all, to defend with two blocks of five, so pretty much 10 players in front of their goal.”
In other matches, China beat Thailand 2-1 as they seek to return to the World Cup for the first time since making their debut at the tournament in 2002, Iran defeated Hong Kong 4-0, and Qatar thrashed Afghanistan 8-1 with Almoez Ali scoring four.
Palestine’s match against host Lebanon was moved to the United Arab Emirates because of the security situation in the region. The game ended in a 0-0 draw.
Also, Saudi Arabia beat Pakistan 4-0, the United Arab Emirates defeated Nepal 4-0 and India beat Kuwait 1-0.
