Son Heung-min (LAFC), the captain of South Korea's national football team, returned home amid encouragement and consolation from fans. The scene contrasted sharply with the previous day, when about 300 fans flocked to manager Hong Myung-bo's group and unleashed loud jeers.
Son and eight other players, having completed all their fixtures for the 2026 World Cup in North and Central America, arrived through Incheon International Airport early Monday.
After finishing their World Cup schedule, the national team split into several groups and returned home in stages.
Earlier, on the previous morning, manager Hong Myung-bo and seven others including Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), Kim Min-jae (Munich) and Hwang In-beom (Feyenoord) returned first. On this day, Son Heung-min was joined by Lee Dong-gyeong (Ulsan), Kim Jin-gyu (Jeonbuk), Lee Han-beom (Midtjylland), Lee Tae-seok (Vienna), Lee Ki-hyeok (Gangwon), Bae Jun-ho (Stoke), Cho Wi-je and Kang Sang-yoon (both Jeonbuk).
The flight carrying the players on this day was scheduled to arrive around 4 a.m., but fans wearing national team jerseys had taken their places at the airport from 2 a.m. to wait for the players.
Son Heung-min, Um Ji-sung, Kim Seung-gyu and Song Bum-keun appeared in the arrivals hall first, while the remaining players came in as a later group at intervals of about 20 minutes.
After a long wait, fans who finally saw Son's face offered him warm words of consolation such as "Thank you for your hard work," "Fighting" and "Don't hang your head."
Asked by reporters about his regret and what he wanted to say to fans, Son was sparing with his words, saying only, "I'm sorry."
The other players left the airport gate without saying much.
