Two goals. That's all that stands between Son Heung-min and South Korea's all-time scoring record at FIFA World Cup 2026.
The 33-year-old appeared against Czechia at Estadio Guadalajara on Friday, making it four World Cup tournaments — 2014, 2018, 2022, and now 2026. He's sitting on 56 international goals, with Cha Bum-kun's all-time record of 58 just ahead of him. For a player who has carried this national team on his back for over a decade, it almost feels inevitable.
What 144 caps actually means
Son is South Korea's most-capped player by a distance. Lee Jae-Sung is next on the list with 105 caps — a 39-cap gap that underlines just how central Son has been to everything Korea has done in international football. This isn't a legacy being built anymore. It's one being completed.
Currently playing his club football at Los Angeles FC in MLS after leaving Tottenham, Son arrived at this tournament without the Premier League spotlight that defined most of his career. That doesn't seem to have dimmed his appetite.
If he reaches 58 goals and moves level with Cha Bum-kun — a legend of Korean football from a very different era — the question becomes whether he can push beyond it before the tournament ends. Either outcome reshapes how South Korean football history is written.
Son's goalscoring odds at this tournament just got a lot more interesting. A player chasing a national record has extra motivation that goes beyond tactics or form. Records like this have a way of pulling performances out of players at exactly the right moment.
South Korea's all-time record has stood long enough. Son has two games — minimum — left to take it.
