Heung-Min Son apologized to the fans after Jordan eliminated South Korea from the Asian Cup.
The team led by Jurgen Klinsmann entered the semi-final match as the clear favorites, but they were shocked by a 2-0 loss at Qatar’s Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, with goals from Yazan Al-Naimat and Musa Al-Taamari in the second half.
Despite controlling 70% of the possession, South Korea was only able to muster eight shots, while their opponents managed to register 17.
Jordan has never advanced past the Asian Cup semifinals, and their current FIFA world ranking of 87th makes the outcome all the more remarkable.
After placing second in the 2015 competition, Son is experiencing even more heartache on the global scene.
After the match, the 31-year-old captain of South Korea remarked, “I really don’t know what to say. I truly apologize.
“The athletes gave it their all. I apologize profusely for the unintentional way the game ended.
“We appreciate the wonderful support from the fans, and we apologize for not living up to their expectations.
“Again, I apologize deeply. I’ll work even harder to help the national team advance in the future.”
“I am very disappointed, I’m angry because we should have done much better tonight,” South Korea’s manager Klinsmann continued.
“I most definitely won’t be grinning tonight as I go about my business. However, we should acknowledge that there are reasons why we lost this game.”
Since there is no third-place play-off in the Asian Cup, Son will now return to Tottenham. The forward may be available for the North Londoners’ Premier League home game against Brighton this coming weekend.
Jordan’s match-up in the final is set to be with either Iran or the host country, Qatar. The two previous winners will square off in the semi-final tomorrow.
