South Korea captain Son Heung-min reacts with disappointment after his side's defeat to South Africa in the Group A third-round match at Estadio BBVA in Monterrey, Mexico, on June 24 (local time) at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. [Yonhap]
South Korea captain Son Heung-min reacts with disappointment after his side's defeat to South Africa in the Group A third-round match at Estadio BBVA in Monterrey, Mexico, on June 24 (local time) at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. [Yonhap]

Son Heung-min (LAFC) has been named one of the biggest disappointments of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North and Central America.

Sports Illustrated published a World Cup wrap-up Tuesday listing 10 of the tournament's greatest letdowns. The list included Portugal's round-of-16 exit, a poor showing by United States captain Christian Pulisic, and Germany's failure to advance past the round of 32 after losing to Paraguay.

"Son has been the heartbeat of the South Korean national team for the past decade," the outlet said, noting that no player in Korean football history had earned more international caps and that Son had entered the tournament just two goals short of Cha Bum-kun's all-time scoring record for the national team.

But Son failed to live up to expectations on the World Cup stage. "Son's potency now looked spent," Sports Illustrated said, adding that the clinical finishing that had long made him a world-class striker — consistently outperforming his expected goals — was nowhere to be found.

Son Heung-min is fouled during South Korea's Group A third-round match against South Africa at Estadio BBVA in Monterrey, Mexico, on June 24 (local time) at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. [Yonhap]
Son Heung-min is fouled during South Korea's Group A third-round match against South Africa at Estadio BBVA in Monterrey, Mexico, on June 24 (local time) at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. [Yonhap]

Citing data from statistics firm Opta, the magazine said Son generated an expected goals figure of 1.05 throughout the tournament without scoring once — the highest xG total among all players who failed to find the net.

Of his seven shots, only one was on target.

South Korea had raised hopes by beating the Czech Republic 2-1 but were eliminated in the group stage after consecutive 0-1 losses to Mexico and South Africa.

Sports Illustrated acknowledged that coach Hong Myung-bo had faced the full brunt of criticism following the elimination, but suggested Son bore some responsibility as well. "If Son had shown his usual goal-scoring instincts, Hong's fate might have been different," the magazine said.


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