Heung Min Son says he feels like a child again as he prepares to lead South Korea into their World Cup opener against the Czech Republic in Guadalajara on Thursday. The 33-year-old captain said the atmosphere around the squad was so charged he could read it in his teammates' eyes.
Son said the group was so fired-up that he had to calm them down. “The guys are so fired-up for this match, and I actually have to calm them down,” he said, adding that he could “feel it in their eyes” and that the vibe inside the camp was “tremendous.”
That matters now because South Korea begin their tournament on Thursday in the second match of the World Cup, after co-hosts Mexico open against South Africa. Son said the team hopes years of work will finally pay off and that it “absolutely deserved it,” while stressing how much every match at this stage means. “Every World Cup match is so important that, as a player, you would stake your life on it,” he said. “Tomorrow, we will give everything we've got and more.”
For Son, this is his fourth World Cup, and it comes after a poor season with Los Angeles FC, where he scored just twice. Even so, he said the global showpiece still excites him as much as ever. His words suggested a veteran trying to balance perspective and urgency without letting the occasion swallow him.
That is also where the sharpest edge of this story sits. Son has been described as possibly playing in his last World Cup, but he pushed back on that framing and said he has never once said this is his last. “My mindset is similar, whether it's my first or last World Cup. I feel like a child again,” he said. “I have never once said this is my last World Cup. The most important thing is to do my job. People can say whatever they want, and I will choose my path wisely.”
South Korea now move from words to the schedule that will define their group stage. After the Czech Republic on Thursday, they face Mexico on June 18th and South Africa on June 24th in their final Group A match. The 2026 World Cup runs from June 11th to July 19th across the United States, Canada and Mexico, with 48 national teams playing in 16 modern stadiums — and for Son, the next step is simple: take the field, and do the job he keeps talking about.
