Son shines late as Korea make last 16

Son Heung-min collected a clearance deep inside his own half and turned towards the Portugal goal, just as the stadium announcer declared six minutes of stoppage time.

Before him, a vast expanse of green turf. Son looked exhausted but he put his head down and summoned one last effort, carrying the ball forward at pace, luring three defenders towards him.

As they converged, he slipped a pass through the legs of Diogo Dalot to Hwang Hee-chan, the Wolves striker, on as a sub, who swept it beyond Portugal’s keeper Diogo Costa into the net.

South Korea were ahead for the first time in the game — and on course for the last 16.

Across Doha, Uruguay were beating Ghana 2-0 and, as things stood, giving them four points but the Koreans were in second by virtue of their four goals scored to Uruguay’s two.

The Group H table flashed up on the big screens to a huge roar of approval. Portugal were top, sure of progress before this game, and South Korea were second.

Son tore off his protective mask, threw it high in the sky and collapsed in tears at the final whistle. Uruguay and Ghana, however, were still playing at the Al Janoub Stadium.

South Korea’s players linked arms and huddled in the centre of the pitch to see phones streaming the action from the other game.

Another goal for the South Americans and they would advance instead, with a better goal difference.

Excruciatingly, the seconds ticked by and that goal never came and Spurs star Son led a second wave of celebrations, erupting into tears again as he danced in front of the Korean fans.

‘These are tears of happiness,’ said Son, unlike four years ago when his team went out in the group stage, despite winning their final game and knocking out defending champions Germany in their final game in Russia.

‘We waited really long for this moment and we believed we could do this. There were moments when I wasn’t able to do my best. I am thankful to my team-mates that they were able to cover me when I wasn’t able to fulfil my duties and I’m proud of them.’

It is only a month since Son broke a cheekbone near his eye socket playing for Spurs against Marseille. There is a scar by his left eye from the surgery and he did not look at his sharpest but he refused to give in.

‘When Son got the ball, I was convinced he would pass to me,’ said goal-hero Hwang. ‘It was an excellent pass. It made my job easy. It was difficult waiting for the other result but we proved we could make it to the knock-out phase and we kept that trust.’

It was emotional. South Korea’s task had been tough enough at the start, and it became tougher still when they went behind inside five minutes against a Portugal team resting some big names but led by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Dalot took a pass in his stride and cut it back for Ricardo Horta, to convert the low cross.

This opening sequence made for uncomfortable viewing for Paulo Bento, the former Portugal star now in charge of South Korea and sent off by referee Anthony Taylor at the end of the previous game against Ghana.

Bento, banned from the touchline, took his seat in the stands and soon became tangled in a dispute with a couple of Portugal supporters who were telling him to sit down so they could see.

South Korea had a goal ruled out for offside before levelling from a corner, delivered by Lee Kang-in and unwittingly assisted by Ronaldo, who was unsighted by players leaping across him as the ball struck his back and dropped for Kim Young-gwon to score.

Ronaldo became locked into an argument as he was replaced and refused to hasten his departure, returning to the bench in a strop.

Later, Ronaldo told Portuguese TV: ‘one of their players was telling me to leave quickly. I told him to shut up. I would speed up the pace if the referee said so.’

Still, South Korea did not look like finding the precious goal and the game seemed to be fading into a draw when they cleared a corner in the first minute of stoppage time, Son picked up the ball and started to run.

The run, the pass and the finish by Hwang would take them into the last 16 of the World Cup and send Uruguay home.

SOUTH KOREA (4-3-3): Kim S 6; Kim M 6, Kwon 6, Kim Y 7 (Son J, 81), Kim J 6; Hwang I 7, Jung 7, Lee K 6 (Hwang U, 81); Lee J 6 (Hwang H 66), Cho 6 (Cho Y 90), Son 8. Booked: Lee K, Hwang H.

PORTUGAL (4-3-3): Costa 6; Dalot 6, Pepe 6, Antonio Silva 6, Cancelo 6; Nunes 5 (Paulinha 65), Neves 7 (Leao 65), Vitinha 7 (B Silva 82); Horta 6, Ronaldo 6 (Andre Silva 65), Mario 5 (Carvalho 82).

Booked: None. Man of the match: Son Heung-min. Referee: Facundo Tello (Argentina). Attendance: 44,097.