Son under pressure to save South Korea's World Cup

South Korea's Son Heung-min is bearing the weight of expectation at the World Cup just as heavily as Mohamed Salah, Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Kane.

Even Lionel Messi, whose bid to add a World Cup to his career collection has become something of a communal objective for football, enjoys the support of a star-studded Argentinian side, from Angel Di Maria to Javier Mascherano to Sergio Aguero.

For Son and South Korea, the pressure is shared in the kind of unequal measure that perhaps only Salah would know with Egypt, before his own tournament was hampered by injury.

South Korea are teetering on the brink too, after a 1-0 defeat by Sweden left them needing at least a draw, and probably a win, against Mexico tomorrow to keep any hopes of progressing from Group F alive.

Son blamed himself for the opening loss.

"I'm still disappointed about my performance," he said. "I feel very, very sorry for my team-mates because if we don't score, it's my fault, because I need to take the responsibility."
- Not the star at Spurs -
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"But all the team love him. Not only because of his performances but because of how he is as a man. He is so humble and such a normal guy, and that makes him bigger."