The Tottenham Hotspur striker was guilty of two glaring misses and suffered the indignity of a late yellow card for diving in the Bahrain box.
South Korea launched its crusade for a first Asian Cup since 1960 with a 3- 1 palm over Bahrain while fellow former titleholders Iraq beat Indonesia by the same score line Monday.
Paris Saint- Germain’s Lee Kang– in upstaged Son Heung- min with two pretensions for Jurgen Klinsmann’s South Korea, which are among the favourites for the title in Qatar.
Lee has impressed at PSG since joining from Mallorca last summer and he got Klinsmann’s side out of a spot of bother against a spirited Bahrain who equalised beforehand in the alternate half.
The 22- time-old attacking midfielder showcased his sublime chops with a alternate- half brace to seal the three points for the Koreans.
His man- of- the- match display was in stark discrepancy to commander and Tottenham Hotspur striker Son. He was shamefaced of two striking misses and suffered the personality of a late unheroic card for diving in the Bahrain box.
Son is eyeing commodity “ special ” at his fourth Asian Cup but advised his side it’ll not come easy.
Japan, Australia, Iran and Saudi Arabia have all been touted as serious contenders, along with hosts and reigning titleholders Qatar.
“We’ve a fantastic platoon and we’ve astonishingly talented players, but it’s all about commitment, ” Son said.
“We’ve an unthinkable platoon but we haven’t won it for 64 times.
“We’ve just one end– to make it special with this platoon and make it a special time. ”
After a slow launch last time to his term, German legend Klinsmann has seen his South Korean side hit form at the right time.
As well as a red-hot Lee, they also boast Bayern Munich protector Kim Min- jae and Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Hwang Hee- chan, who has scored 10 times in the Premier League this season.
South Korea coming face Jordan on Saturday in GroupE.
Indonesia Cloud
In a Group D that includes hotly sloped Japan, Iraq were made to work by Indonesia before also running out 3- 1 winners.
Iraq, the 2007 Asian titleholders, pummelled Indonesia 5- 1 in Basra during World Cup qualifying in November and defeated trainer Shin Tae- yong pledged before this game that his platoon would come back better.
His youthful Indonesia side, with eight of their starters born this century, gave a much better account of themselves in front of a rumbustious crowd of 16,532.
But Iraq constantly hovered to get behind Indonesia’s reverse line and on 16 twinkles they did, Mohanad Ali shambling his way through to blast into the top-right corner.
Indonesia were level 20 twinkles latterly, the 19- time-old Marselino Ferdinan finishing emphatically at the far post.
But Osamah Rashid stroked home to insure a 2- 1 half- time lead for Iraq and 15 twinkles from the end Aymen Hussein blasted in from close range to make the points safe.
While accepting that Iraq were the better side, Shin fumed latterly about what he said was an offside during Iraq’s alternate thing.
“This is 100 percent offside. This kind of wrong decision- making from arbiters will drop the image of the Asian Cup, ” he said. Know More Latest Football News…
