Son Heung-min Learns A Lot From Palestine

Son Heung-min learned a lot from Palestine (doc. AFC).

JAKARTA - South Korea drew 1-1 against Palestine on the sixth matchday of Group B of the 2026 World Cup Qualification Third Round at Amman International Stadium, Jordan, Tuesday, November 19, 2024.

Son Heung-min saved Taegeuk Warriors with a goal in the 16th minute to equalize 1-1, after Palestine took the lead in the 12th minute through Zaid Qunbar.

The South Korean captain admitted that he learned a lot from the match against Palestine which stopped four consecutive wins in the Third Round of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers.

"Today's match was not easy. I want to give applause to the Palestinian team," Son said on the AFC website.

A lesson that Son Heung-min can learn is how Palestine continues to work hard throughout the match and does not give up in difficult situations.

"I think we need to learn from seeing them work hard even in difficult situations."

"I think we made the game difficult (for ourselves). It was difficult because of our mistakes."

"However, in my opinion, we made a good performance by quickly equalizing," said Son, who scored 51 goals with South Korea.

Palestine acted as the host in the party. However, they cannot play home in their country due to the conflict situation.

As a result, the AFC moved the match in neutral places and chose Jordan as the arena.

The conflict with Israel made it difficult for Palestinian players to prepare for the Third Round of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers.

Pelatih Palestina, Makram Daboub, mengakui banyak pegawanya sudah tidak bermain di klub masing-masing selama kurang lebih setahun.

"It will not be easy because most players have not played at the club for a year," said Daboub.

Despite the complicated situation in his country, Palestine is fighting and making it difficult for competitors in Group B.

South Korea has finally become a victim of how hard Palestinian work has made the seed unable to get full points.

In fact, at the first meeting of South Korea vs Palestine in Seoul, the match also ended in a goalless draw.

Currently, Palestine is at the bottom of Group B by winning three points. However, Makram Daboub did not want to give up on targeting a realistic place, ranking third and fourth in order to continue into the fourth round phase.

"This result puts us in a difficult position (to finish in the top two positions), however, we will still fight for third or fourth positions," said Daboub again.

Palestine and South Korea still have four remaining matches in Group B of the Third Round of 2026 World Cup Qualifiers which will begin in March 2025.