Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min played a captain's role as South Korea beat plucky Vietnam 3-1 to reach the Asian Games final today.
The World Cup star, who is missing the start of the Premier League season to represent his country in Indonesia, is now just 90 minutes away from a gold medal that would spare him a career-threatening spell of military service.
"I don't think I need to say anything," said Son, refusing to be drawn on the subject.
"We're close to winning gold, to making history, and we will fight for it."
"But we dominated it and deserved to win. We are all ready for the final. I'm trying to make my country happy, make myself happy. It's all positive for me."