Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan get one each as Korea beat Chile 2-0

Football

Published: 06 Jun. 2022, 22:38 Updated: 07 Jun. 2022, 11:27

Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan get one each as Korea beat Chile 2-0

Son Heung-min, center, celebrates after scoring Korea’s second goal in a 2-0 win against Chile at Daejeon World Cup Stadium in Daejeon on Monday. The game marked Son’s 100th appearance with the national team. [YONHAP]

Premier League stars Son Heung-min and Hwang Hee-chan picked up a goal apiece to lead Korea to a 2-0 victory over Chile in an international friendly at Daejeon World Cup Stadium in Daejeon on Monday.

From a training standpoint, Monday’s game was one of the most highly-anticipated of Korea’s early summer friendlies as it pitched the world No. 29 Taeguk Warriors against No. 28 Chile in a match that allowed head coach Paulo Bento to see how his team stood up to a side that ought to be at a fairly similar level.

Monday’s friendly was the second of Korea’s early summer schedule after a 5-1 loss to world No. 1 Brazil at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Mapo District, western Seoul last Thursday.

Both games have marked important moments in captain Son’s international career — last week the Tottenham Hotspur star and Premier League Golden Boot winner was awarded Korea’s highest sporting honor, whilst the Chile match marked his 100th appearance with the national team.

Facing a far more evenly-matched team on Monday, Korea were in control from the kickoff at Daejeon World Cup Stadium. The defense was far more cohesive, the midfield gelled well and attacks were strung together without the momentum petering out.

Hwang Hee-chan, center, scores Korea’s opening goal against Chile at Daejeon World Cup Stadium in Daejeon on Monday. [YONHAP]

Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Hwang Hee-chan drew first blood in the 11th minute, picking up a cross on the left wing and then powering his way through a gap in the defense to send the ball flying from outside corner of the box into the top right corner.

Hwang Hee-chan’s goal kicked off a string of Korean attacks dominated by three well-placed free kicks over the following 15 minutes, but the Taeguk Warriors were unable to seriously threaten Chilean goalkeeper Fernando de Paul.

Hwang Hee-chan, center, celebrates after scoring Korea’s opening goal against Chile at Daejeon World Cup Stadium in Daejeon on Monday. [YONHAP]

The tide appeared to turn in the last 10 minutes of the half, when Chile began to seriously threaten the Korean goal. The visitors came perilously close to scoring on three occasions, narrowly missing the right post twice and the left once as Kim Seung-gyu scrambled to cover the net.

Despite the offensive, Chile were unable to get anything past Kim and the first half ended with Korea leading 1-0.
Chile went down to 10 men early in the second half after defender Alex Ibacache picked up a second yellow card for a foul on Jeong Woo-yeong.

The visitors came close to leveling the score in the 60th minute, but the goal was immediately ruled offside.

Despite the numbers advantage, Korea remained quiet for the following 30 minutes. Captain Son had multiple attempts on goal, showing some fancy footwork to thread his way through the defense before sending the ball just wide of the post on more than one occasion.

The Son effect appeared to be a bit of an issue for the team as a whole. While Son himself struggled to capitalize on his own opportunities, there were multiple instances when attacks fell apart because players were trying too hard to get the ball to the Spurs star rather than take the shot themselves.

Both Hwang In-beom and Um Won-sang, who came on as a substitute in the 75th minute, fell into this trap, with Um sprinting the entire length of the pitch and then passing the ball into a defender when he was just a couple of meters from goal.

Whether the constant Son seeking was on Bento’s orders or just a natural side effect of having a global superstar on the squad is unclear, but the head coach will need to continue to work on finding the right balance between using the Spurs striker to his full potential and encouraging everybody to take the chances they’re given.

Son Heung-min, center, scores Korea’s second goal against Chile at Daejeon World Cup Stadium in Daejeon on Monday. [YONHAP]

Son’s chance came in the 90th minute, after Hwang Hee-chan was brought down on the edge of the box for a direct free kick. The captain stepped up to take the shot and sent the ball flying around the side of the wall and into the top right corner.

Son was substituted off immediately after the goal and the game ended with Korea up 2-0 just a few minutes later.
Although the score could have been higher — especially playing against ten men — the 2-0 victory is still a good result for Korea, with the statistics suggesting the Taeguk Warriors did far more to capitalize on their chances than the visitors.

The final score belies how evenly matched the two teams were, level-pegging on fouls, at 16, offsides, at three and corner kicks, at three. Korea led slightly on possession, but only at 52 percent to 48 percent, and had four more shots, two more of which were on target.

With two friendlies left to play over the next two weeks, the real test will be whether Bento and the team can learn from their experience facing two very different teams in the first two games.

Korea will next face Paraguay at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon, Gyeonggi at 8 p.m. on Friday, before leaving South America behind to take on Egypt in the final friendly at Seoul World Cup Stadium at 8 p.m. on June 14.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]