Unfortunately for the Socceroos, South Korea's smiling assassin, and Ange Postecoglou's captain at Tottenham, stands between them and an Asian Cup semi-final.
"I rang Ange and asked Ange if he can take him back," Socceroos coach Graham Arnold joked.
Graham Arnold has asked Ange Postecoglou (L) tongue-in-cheek to bring Son Heung-min (R) home. (Richard Wainwright/AAP PHOTOS)
South Korea's captain, who scored in the 2015 Asian Cup final loss to Australia, is smart, explosive, elusive and a brilliant finisher.
He hasn't hit his straps this tournament yet either, which makes the quarter-final at the Al Janoub Stadium in Doha on Friday evening (2.30am Saturday AEDT) all the more ominous.
"You want to verse the best players in the world and he's probably up there, isn't he?" right-back Nathaniel Atkinson said.
"He scores goals for fun in the Premier League.
"So it'll be fun to see how he gets in those positions but also for us how we can stop that."
Skipper Mat Ryan insists the Socceroos will respect Son enough - but not too much.
After all, this is a team that has faced Lionel Messi twice in the past two years and also taken on the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane.
"He's just a human at the end of the day," Ryan told AAP.
Son has become a hero to millions of South Koreans for his footballing exploits. (EPA PHOTO)
Veteran defender Aziz Behich has gone toe-to-toe with Son before.
"You have to be careful, it's obviously in the back of your mind as a player when you're on the pitch that these type of world-class players can change a game in a moment," he said.
"But it's all about us and what we can do as a team."
There is more to South Korea than Son, of course.
Paris Saint-Germain star Lee Kang-in, Wolves forward Hwang Hee-chan and big striker Cho Gue-sung are all capable of giving Australia's defence nightmares.
"That's where we have to be on song," Arnold said.
"Our defensive structure, our defensive shape has been been very good, we've conceded one goal so far this tournament.
"And I know I said clean sheets win you tournaments but these type of opponents, if you're a bit sloppy and you give them one bit of space, well then you can get punished.
"That's what we've been looking at and working on and making sure that we don't give them that time, that space but also making sure that we've got our structure right, so we can nullify that."
The Socceroos, who have a full two days' extra rest on Jurgen Klinsmann's charges, insist they won't be overawed by the occasion as they attempt to make amends for 2019's quarter-final exit.
"I wouldn't say there's an intimidation factor, these are the games that you want to play in," Atkinson said.
"We back ourselves against the best teams in the world, not just in Asia, but around the world.
"You've got to win every game from now to win the thing and that's what we came here to do anyway."
Hard-pressing striker Mitch Duke appears in contention to start after successfully returning from a hamstring strain.
Atkinson's competition at right-back, Gethin Jones (groin) appears less likely to feature.
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