Korea Republic men’s national team defeated South American powerhouse Chile, as captain Son Heungmin celebrated winning his 100th cap by scoring a late goal.

Hwang Heechan opened the scoring early in the first half and Son curled home a superb free-kick deep into added time, as Paulo Bento’s side claimed a 2-0 victory in the second match of a four-game friendly series that took place at Daejeon World Cup Stadium on Monday. It was the first time in seven years that Daejeon hosted an international friendly since the Uzbekistan game in March 2015, and some 40,135 fans flocked to the stadium to witness the historic moment.

In fact, it was Korea Republic’s first win over Chile, against who the Taegeuk Warriors lost 1-0 in 2008 and drew 0-0 in 2018 – with the head-to-head record between the sides evenly poised at 1-1-1. Korea Republic are set to face Paraguay in Suwon on Friday, before returning to Seoul to welcome Egypt next Tuesday.

Making his 100th appearance and thus becoming the 16th Korean to join the century club, Son is joining an elite group of Korea Republic legends like Cha Bumkun and Hong Myungbo. Having already reached the milestone at the age of 30, Son has Hong’s all-time record of 136 caps within his sights now.

The friendly with Chile had been arranged as a preparation for the match against Uruguay at the world finals, where the Taegeuk Warriors will take on Uruguay, Ghana and Portugal in the group stage. Although Chile did not qualify for Qatar 2022 whilst undergoing a transition period, they are still regarded as a powerhouse of South American football. The hosts, for their part, were looking to bounce back from the 5-1 defeat at the hands of Brazil and rediscover their winning ways.

Bento had announced he would reshuffle the squad that had faced Brazil last week, and the coach did make four changes including a surprise move to deploy Son as a centre forward: following such a rare decision, the captain spearheaded the attack alongside Hwang Heechan and Na Sangho, who had come off the bench in the second half against Brazil.

Hwang Inbeom started in midfield along with namesakes Jung Wooyoung and Jeong Wooyeong, with the latter replacing Paik Seungho; the back four consisted of Hong Chul, Kwon Kyungwon, Jung Seunghyun and Kim Moonhwan, with Jung and Kim starting in place of Kim Younggwon and Lee Yong respectively; and goalkeeper Kim Seunggyu.

Korea Republic were completely a different side from those who had struggled against a formidable Brazil side, making few mistakes in defence whilst building up their accuracy in organising their attack. The consistency paid dividends as the opening half wore on, as the hosts began to create a series of promising opportunities.

And they took a deserved lead after 12 minutes, when Jeong found Hwang Heechan unmarked on the left side. The Wolverhampton winger broke into the left side of the area to fire an unstoppable effort past Fernando de Paul, to score Korea Republic’s first ever goal against Chile at senior level.

However, Korea Republic then struggled to protect the slim advantage as they seem to lose concentration on the stroke of half time. The visitors capitalised on a sloppy defending on 45 minutes, only for Benjamin Brereton to drag his shot just wide of the right post.

But the visitors were dealt a huge blow shortly after the restart, as Alex Ibacache got his marching orders after receiving a second yellow card. Despite being down to ten men, Chile surged forward in search of an equaliser. Brereton thought he had put his side level on the hour mark, but the linesman had raised the flag when his pointblank header hit the back of the net.

Bento responded by making a couple of changes, bringing on Um Wonsang and Cho Guesung midway through the second half. Cho and Son worked alongside one another up front, whilst pacey winger Um broke free on the right channel with Cho lurking on both flanks to create more chances for Son.

Son was almost everywhere, slaloming with audacious dribbles and flexible positioning. In a flamboyant display of individual brilliance, Son shook off the challenges from three defenders before unleashing a low shot that swerved just wide. But the captain made no mistake from a set-piece deep into added time, curling a sublime free-kick home to make it 2-0.

International friendly match presented by Hana Bank(6 June 2022, Daejeon World Cup Stadium)

Korea Republic 2-0 Chile

Scorers: Hwang Heechan 12’, Son Heungmin 90’+1

KOR: Kim Seunggyu; Kim Moonhwan, Jung Seunghyun, Kwon Kyungwon, Hong Chul; Jung Wooyoung, Hwang Inbeom, Jeong Wooyeong (Cho Guesung 68’); Hwang Heechan, Na Sangho (Um Wonsang 76’), Son Heungmin (Ko Seungbeom 90’+2)