ANKARA
South Korea and Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min praised the Palestinian national football team’s resilience after a 1-1 draw at a 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifying match.
“Today’s game was not easy. I would like to give a round of applause to the Palestinian team. I think we need to learn from seeing them work so hard even in difficult situations,” Son, 32, said after the match Tuesday at the Amman International Stadium.
Zeid Qunbar gave an early lead to Palestine but Son, who is a longtime Tottenham winger, equalized for South Korea in the 16th minute.
“I think we made the game difficult (for ourselves). It was difficult because of our mistakes, but I think we showed a good performance by equalizing quickly,” Son added.
Son, a South Korea forward since December 2010, scored 51 goals in 131 international appearances for his nation. The Tottenham star represented South Korea at the 2014, 2018, and 2022 World Cup finals.
World Cup Asian Qualifying Group B leaders South Korea have 14 points in six matches.
Their nearest opponent in the standings is Iraq with 11 points. Sixth place Palestine bottomed out the group with three points. After 10 matches, the two best teams in each group will qualify for the 2026 World Cup finals which will be co-hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico.
South Korea, the 2002 co-hosts and semifinalists, appeared at 11 World Cup tournaments, the last in Qatar 2022.
Palestine have been forced to play their home games on neutral grounds because of Israel’s onslaught on the Gaza Strip.
Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza following an attack last year by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas. The ensuing attacks by Israel had killed nearly 44,000 people, most of them women and children, and injured more than 104,000.
The second year of genocide in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with figures and institutions labeling the Israeli attacks and blocking aid deliveries a deliberate attempt to destroy a population.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its deadly war on Gaza.
