Seoul: In the aftermath of South Korea's 5-0 loss to Brazil in their men's friendly football match at home Friday night, captain Son Heung-min called on his teammates not to feel too discouraged by the result. South Korea mustered only one shot on target, while the visitors poured in a handful of goals at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Son insisted the lopsided defeat wasn't for any lack of effort from his team. "If you just look at the final score, you could say we played a poor match. But as someone who played in it, I felt everyone gave their very best on the pitch," Son said. "That was the message I wanted to give to my teammates as their captain. Of course, our mistakes led to their goals and we have to get better in those areas. But I think we had the right attitude and right mindset for this match."

Son said his teammates, especially some younger ones who had not faced a team as skilled as world No. 6 Brazil, must have learned that even a small mistake can lead to big trouble. "Hopefully, we will be able to learn from this match and have better results going forward," Son added. "But I hope that the lads won't stay down on themselves after this. When I was younger, I used to beat myself up after losses like this, instead of trying to learn from them. When we get knocked down by teams like Brazil, we have to learn how to get back up. We don't have time to stay down."

Son made history in this match, becoming the most-capped South Korean male player with his 137th international appearance. "I am grateful to be surrounded by my teammates and fans for this special occasion. It's a huge honor, and I wouldn't be here without them," Son said. "But since we had such a disappointing result, I am more sad than I am happy."