Son Heung-min apologized and said he was “devastated” after South Korea was eliminated from the Asian Cup with a 2-0 semi-final defeat against Jordan on Tuesday.
The Koreans, who were hoping to win the tournament for the first time since 1960, were unable to hit even a single shot on target against a Jordan team 64 places lower in the world rankings.
Son Heung-min told beIN Sports that his team had been nervous and “did not want to make a mistake”. He also said, “Very disappointing, devastated about this result. Jordan are having an amazing journey at this tournament. They deserve it, they fought to the end. For us it was a very disappointing night.”
The forward apologized to Korean fans, adding he was “terribly sorry that we didn’t live up to their expectations”. “I will try to get better as a player and also help our national team take the next step,” he said to the reporters.
In the first two knockout stages, South Korea was on the edge of elimination, but they managed to survive by netting equalizers in injury time during the second half.
This time, they had no response as Yazan Al-Naimat and Mousa Al-Tamari put Jordan ahead in the second half, with Jurgen Klinsmann’s side hardly looking capable of scoring.
Jordan made it to the final for the first time, and on Saturday they will play against Qatar or Iran for the title.