Son Heung-min touched the ball nine times inside the box, but... even a chance born from a goalkeeper's error went over the bar, leaving him with zero shots on target

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

Son Heung-min (34, LAFC), captain of the South Korean national football team, touched the ball more frequently than anyone else inside Saudi Arabia's penalty box, yet failed to register a single shot on target.

The South Korean national team, led by interim coach Roberto Moreno, lost 2-3 in a friendly match against Saudi Arabia held at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar, at 11:30 p.m. (KST) on the 13th. This was South Korea's first defeat to Saudi Arabia in 21 years, following a 0-1 loss in the final Asian qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup in Germany in August 2005.

Son Heung-min started as part of a two-striker formation with Oh Hyeon-gyu and played the full match. South Korea touched the ball 40 times inside Saudi Arabia's penalty box that day, nine of which were by Son Heung-min, the highest among all players from both teams. South Korea also led in total shots, 15 to 8, converting six into shots on target. However, both shots Son Heung-min took from inside the box missed the goal.

The first opportunity came around the 19th minute of the first half while the score was 0-0. Hwang Hee-chan (Schalke) broke through Saudi Arabia's defense with a quick dribble and passed the ball forward to Son Heung-min in the center of the penalty box. Son Heung-min aimed for the right corner of the goal with his left foot, but the ball narrowly missed past the right post.

South Korea actually conceded the opening goal. In stoppage time of the first half, Kim Seung-gyu (FC Tokyo) slipped while trying to block an opposing attack, and Marwan Al-Saahbi seized the chance to push the ball into the net.

South Korea did not give up. Two minutes into the second half, Oh Hyeon-gyu finished a cross from Seo Yeong-woo on the right flank with a right-footed volley, leveling the score at 1-1. However, South Korea conceded the lead again to Mohamed Kanno in the 11th minute of the second half, and three minutes later allowed Abdulrahman Al-Amri to head in a goal from a corner kick situation.

The most disappointing moment for Son Heung-min came in the 21st minute of the second half while trailing 1-3. His two-striker partner Oh Hyeon-gyu created the opportunity. As Oh Hyeon-gyu pressured Saudi Arabia's goalkeeper Mohamed Al-Owais up front, Al-Owais hurriedly cleared the ball, which deflected to Son Heung-min in the center of the penalty box. It was a decisive chance to narrow the two-goal gap to one.

However, the ball struck hard with Son Heung-min's right foot flew over the crossbar. Son Heung-min also showed significant disappointment. This scene became Son Heung-min's final shot of the match.

Two minutes later, Lee Jae-sung (Mainz) scored a goal to narrow the gap, making Son Heung-min's missed opportunity feel even more regrettable. Lee Jae-sung, who came on as a substitute for Park Jin-seop (Zhejiang FC) in the 21st minute of the second half, passed the ball back with his heel from the left side of the penalty box to Hwang Hee-chan before making a run toward the goal. When Hwang Hee-chan dodged a defender and returned the pass, Lee Jae-sung pushed it in with his left foot.

Ultimately, South Korea chased the score to 2-3 but failed to score an equalizer.

Although Son Heung-min failed to score, he still created multiple opportunities for his teammates. On this day, Son Heung-min recorded 49 ball touches and completed 24 of his 31 passes to teammates. His pass success rate was 77%. He also won the ball back eight times.

For this reason, ratings from football statistics media outlets were divided regarding Son Heung-min's performance. First, FotMob gave Son Heung-min a rating of 7.0 points, which was not far off from Oh Hyeon-gyu (7.2 points), who scored the equalizer. The evaluation noted that despite not scoring, he contributed to the attack by moving actively, winning the ball back, and drawing shots from teammates.

On the other hand, SofaScore gave Son Heung-min a rating of only 6.3 points, pointing out that he missed several goal chances given his role as a forward striker.

Including matches with his club team, Son Heung-min has now gone five consecutive games without an attacking point. After recording one goal and two assists in the Austin match last month, he played all four of LAFC's final regular season matches for the full duration but failed to add any goals or assists. He also failed to break through the goal in his first match after joining the national team.

Son Heung-min's international goal record remains at 59. Son Heung-min, who surpassed former coach Cha Bum-keun (58 goals) by scoring a free-kick goal against Uzbekistan on the 6th of last month, will challenge again for the first A-match 60th goal by a male South Korean player in the match against Qatar to be held in Doha at 11:00 p.m. on the 17th.

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original