Son Heung-min apologizes for South Korea's early World Cup exit, pledges stronger return

South Korea captain Son Heung-min has apologized to fans for the national team's early exit from the FIFA World Cup, while also pledging to come back stronger.

Son on Tuesday began his lengthy Instagram post by saying: "I do not know where to start. I cannot just ignore this, nor do I want to avoid reality."

It was accompanied by a picture of Son and his teammates in a huddle before a match at the World Cup. South Korea finished third in Group A with three points on a win and two losses, and missed out on a chance to grab a knockout ticket as one of eight best third-place teams.

Head coach Hong Myung-bo resigned to take the fall, and the government is preparing an audit into operations at the Korea Football Association so that it can determine where it went all wrong for the national team.

"First of all, I would like to apologize from the bottom of my heart to all the people in South Korea and fans who love the game of football," Son wrote. "As someone who loves football myself, I would have felt just as frustrated and upset if I had watched a match like that."

Son was referring to South Korea's 1-0 loss to lower-ranked South Africa to close out the group stage. A draw would have sent South Korea to the round of 32 as the Group A runner-up, but they never recovered after conceding a second-half goal.

Son was benched at the start and was subbed on to begin the second half. But he was not able to affect the outcome of the match and finished his fourth World Cup without a goal or an assist.

"This tournament was as precious to me as it was to anyone," said Son, who tied three former players for the most World Cup tournaments played by a South Korean with four. "And it felt like the dream of a child, the kind I have long talked about, was shattered. I cannot describe how much it hurts me. Honestly, it is not easy to accept this reality."

Son said he feels personally responsible for not being able to reward football fans for their love and support with a better performance.

"Rather than expressing my feelings in so many words, I will go back to doing my absolute best to win back the hearts of the Korean people and football fans," Son added. "I will compete as hard as I can to bring joy back to you once again. I have never forgotten the promise with you. As long as you need me, I will give it everything I have."

Son is widely considered one of South Korea's greatest footballers. He is the country's most capped player with 147 appearances and is in second place on the scoring list with 56, only two behind Cha Bum-kun.

Son is tied for the most World Cup goals by a South Korean player with three. Son, who turns 34 next week, has not said whether he has played in his final World Cup.