Today's Talking Points
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1Son Heung-min of Tottenham is their captain — one of the most complete forwards in world football, who'll be 34 by the end of the tournament. This is almost certainly his last major tournament. The whole country is aware of this and is watching accordingly.
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2South Korea famously co-hosted in 2002 and reached the semi-finals. It remains one of the great tournament shocks — though 'controversially' is a word that tends to follow any mention of it, so tread carefully there.
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3They're in Group A with Mexico, South Africa and Czech Republic. Mexico as hosts are the favourites to top the group, but South Korea reaching the knockouts is a realistic and respectable target.
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4Korean football has developed enormously over the last 20 years. Son plays for Spurs. Lee Kang-in plays for PSG. They're not a defend-and-counter team built purely on grit anymore — there's real technical quality in this squad.
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5The pressure on Son in Korea is extraordinary. He's a national hero, plays under intense public scrutiny, and every tournament game gets analysed in forensic detail by the Korean press. He handles it with remarkable grace, which is itself worth mentioning.
🍺 Top Thing To Say Down The Pub
Son Heung-min is probably the best all-round forward at this tournament and most people couldn't name a single other South Korea player. That's actually fine — he's enough.
🚫 Avoid Saying
"South Korea are always gritty" — Son plays for Spurs, Lee Kang-in plays for PSG. The gritty-underdog description is about fifteen years out of date.