South Korea coach says Son was held back to exploit tiring South Africa

MONTERREY, Mexico, June 24 (Reuters) - South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo said he had deliberately left captain Son Heung-min on the bench in the hope the forward could exploit tiring South African legs after the break, but conceded his side never found their rhythm in a 1-0 defeat that left their World Cup fate hanging in the balance on Wednesday.

"We thought that when the opponents had a lot of energy it would be better to use Son later in the game, when they started losing energy and there was more space. We wanted to use him when they were weaker," Hong said.

Son replaced Hwang Hee-chan at halftime but had little impact.

"We prepared well, but compared to our previous matches we made too many mistakes in midfield. That's why my players lost confidence. We knew how we should have played, but we should have done better. Today's performance was simply not good enough," Hong added.

South Korea finish third in Group A with three points from three games.

Qualification depends on results from other groups.

(Writing by Julien Pretot in New YorkEditing by Christian Radnedge)