South Korea named its squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup with Son Heung-min at the center of the attack, and the timing matters because this will be his fourth World Cup. At 33, the country’s record appearance-maker enters the tournament with 141 international caps and the responsibility of carrying the side’s most familiar scoring threat.
For Son, the search interest is obvious. He was born in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, built his career in Germany with Hamburger SV and Bayer Leverkusen, won the Golden Boot in the 2021–22 Premier League season with Tottenham Hotspur and joined LAFC in 2025. That move changed the club setting around him, but not the expectation that he remains the face of South Korean football when the World Cup begins.
Hong Myung-bo’s squad also has the kind of balance that keeps South Korea thinking beyond the group stage. Kim Min-jae brings a defensive spine with 75 international caps, a Scudetto and Serie A Best Defender award from Napoli, and a long run as a starter for Bayern Munich since 2023. Lee Kang-in adds a different rhythm, with 44 senior caps, a Golden Ball from the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup and experience in Ligue 1 and the Champions League with Paris Saint-Germain. Son remains the attacking piece around which the rest turns, but he is not carrying the burden alone.
The complication is that South Korea’s Group A gives it little room to settle in. Mexico, South Africa and the Czech Republic stand between this squad and the deeper run the team believes it can make, and all three group matches will be played in Mexico. That is the sharp edge in a campaign built on experience: South Korea has one of Asia’s most balanced squads, but balance only matters if it survives the first week of the tournament.
What comes next is straightforward and demanding at the same time. South Korea must turn the promise of Son’s fourth World Cup, Kim’s defensive authority and Lee’s creativity into points in Group A, because the team’s ceiling will be measured in Mexico long before it can think about anything beyond it.
