'I'm saving them for the World Cup' - Son Heung-Min unfazed by LAFC scoring drought as South Korea dream big

That’s the place that Son finds himself in. There are very few footballers who serve as singular stars of their national team. To be sure, Korea have some players at top-level clubs, but Son - the quality, the image, the platform - is on another stratosphere. It’s about more than goals and the social media following, or the fact that he is, quite certainly, the most recognizable Asian footballer on the planet. He is, indeed, a national symbol. And now, at 33, he is tasked with pushing Korea a little further than they have in recent memory.

In 2002, Korea were hosts, and made it to the semifinal. Son was 10, and watched on TV as his country beat Spain in the quarterfinals on penalty kicks. And even if they would go on to lose to Germany in the semis, that team helped shape Son’s generation.

At the 2014 World Cup, Son was there himself. He was by no means an unknown quantity in Germany - after hitting double-digit goals as a 20-year-old for Hamburg - and he was his home nation’s worst-kept secret. But outside of that? Son was an exciting youngster on a team no one expected much from. And the skeptics were right. Korea picked up a respectable point against Russia, but lost their next two games. Son scored against Algeria, but his side was sent home early. That was just a taste of what was to come.

“My first World Cup, I had a different role than right now. I'm captain of this national team, obviously, there’s a new generation,” he said.

And then, there were the years of improvement in between: a remarkable goal to knock out Germany in 2018, an Asian Games win in 2018, and being handed the captaincy a year later. Chuck in a fruitful stint at Spurs, and a devastating partnership with Harry Kane, and Son has become the star many hoped he would be.

Jump to now, and Son is the main man. He has been the captain of his country for seven years. The kid who scored against Algeria feels like another lifetime ago.

And now, there’s a difference. Korea are good - better than they have been in years. In 2022, they made it to the last 16 and beat Portugal in the group stage. That strong showing, and subsequent increased presence of Korean talent at top clubs around the world, has piled the pressure on Son and Co. They are no longer plucky outsiders.

“Pressure means that you're doing well. That's why everybody gives you a lot of it. I'm always thinking about the positive. It's making me a better player and a better human being,” Son said.

The Koreans have some real talent to draw from. Kim Min-Jae is a regular for Bayern Munich - and should be back after recovering from a knee injury. Lee Kang-In won the Champions League with PSG last year and is regularly called upon by Luis Enrique. Hwang In-Beom, a standout for Eredivisie side Feyenoord, will be in the picture.

Son is no longer the only one. And maybe that burden feels a little easier to manage.

“You make mistakes,” he admitted. “But there are also teammates who help. So I'm always sharing the pressure with my teammates. They've been really, really good at helping me.”

Korea have also added a new wrinkle with Jens Castrop, the German-born Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder who is set to become the country’s first foreign-born World Cup player.

“It’s fun, watching the new generation, and fun to play with them. I try to teach them a lot of stuff,” Son said.

That might be the edge Korea need, and Son, of course, can still help.

“I try to help them, try to give a lot of good things to inspire them,” Son said.

Yet there’s still experience. Hong Myung-bo, who captained the 2002 side and managed the team before, is back in the fold. It leads to a certain amount of confidence.

“We can't guarantee the results, and I don’t want to say how far I can go,” he said. “I just want us to play our style of football every single game. We fight, we are aggressive, we help each other."

All of this would be much easier if Son were finding the net with more regularity. But it’s not quite happening for LAFC. They have slid down the Western Conference standings. And even if they are still among the favorites to make a run, there has certainly been an adjustment period under new manager Marc Dos Santos.

“I don't think it's on the manager. I’ve been a little bit unlucky; maybe a keeper made some good or great saves. It's on me. I mean, how can I blame somebody?” he said.

More broadly, this is a player who has bagged over 200 goals in all competitions in club football, and a further 54 for his country. He won the Premier League Golden Boot in 2022. That surely counts for something.

“I’m not worried. I scored so many goals in the past, they will not go away,” he said. “The skill is forever there.”

Son has been here before, too. He went scoreless in 11 during the back end of the 2017-18 campaign, failing to find the net from March until the start of the World Cup. He went on to score twice in three matches for his national team.

In truth, Korea’s form has been patchy of late. They lost back-to-back matches against Ivory Coast first and then Austria in March. But a convincing 2-0 win over the USMNT back in September, complete with some scintillating counter-attacking football, showed what they might be capable of (Son scored one and assisted another).

That’s the kind of football he knows they are capable of.

“When times come, and we are all together, we're fighting together. This is Korean culture, and we want to do that in the World Cup. It's going to be a tough challenge,” he said.

And perhaps, that’s all he needs to do. There’s something different about putting on his national team shirt, a childish excitement that takes over.

“It's my fourth World Cup, but it's really like it's my first World Cup. I’m very excited,” he said.

So, the goals aren’t coming now? For Son, that means one thing:

“I’m saving them for the World Cup.”

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