Son tells South Korea to ignore reputations at World Cup

Son Heung-min said South Korea need to show the big teams less respect at next year’s World Cup after recovering from being “punched” by Brazil to beat Paraguay.

The captain Son and his team-mates were hammered 5-0 by Brazil in a friendly in Seoul last week but got back on track with a 2-0 home win over Paraguay on Tuesday.

Son, who set a new record for South Korea’s men’s team with his 137th appearance against Brazil, urged his side to ignore their opponents’ reputations at the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

“When we go up against strong teams we have to think about how we can be more aggressive,” said Son, now playing for Los Angeles FC.

“For instance, I think we respected Brazil too much and that had a big influence on the result.

“We now know it hurts to get punched like that and we have to learn how to fight back.”

South Korea have upset more fancied teams at the World Cup before, famously beating Portugal, Italy and Spain on the way to the semi-finals on home soil in 2002.

They scored a goal in each half against Paraguay in Seoul, through Eom Ji-sung and Oh Hyeon-gyu.

Son played only the first half after appearing for just over an hour against Brazil.

The 33-year-old forward said he was proud of his team’s performance just days after the Brazil humiliation.

“After a big loss like the one we had players can feel discouraged and it can show on the pitch,” said Son.

“To see my teammates put that behind and pounce on their chances, I felt really grateful as their captain.”

Tuesday’s friendly was played out in front of a disappointing crowd of 20,000.

“If we play better football and more entertaining football, then I am sure fans will return to the stadium,” said Son.

“That’s our responsibility.”