Korean captain Son Heung-min will not start the team’s friendly match against Peru on Friday as he is recovering from a recent medical procedure, his head coach Jurgen Klinsmann said on the eve of the match.
Son has been limited in training this week while recovering from sports hernia surgery he had in late May, following the conclusion of the Premier League season for Tottenham Hotspur. Though Son has participated in conditioning drills, he was held out of an intrasquad scrimmage and set-piece drills Wednesday ― leading to speculation that he would miss the Peru match in the southeastern city of Busan.
At his prematch press conference, Klinsmann said Son will not start Friday night but did not rule out the possibility that the captain could be subbed in later on.
“He will be on the bench. We hope every day that he gets closer to match fitness,” Klinsmann said. “He came in right away after the season was over. He’s trying hard to catch up. We take it one day at a time. We hope he still gets on the field.”
In Son’s absence, goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu will wear the armband. Klinsmann will also be without his two main center backs. Kim Min-jae of Napoli, 커뮤니티 named the best defender in Serie A this past season, will complete his military training this month as part of a service exemption earned with the 2018 Asian Games gold medal. His longtime partner, Kim Young-gwon of Ulsan Hyundai FC, is out with a leg injury.
Klinsmann said he would have liked more consistency but accepted that injuries are part of the game. He also chose to look on the brighter side of the situation.
“I always think, the way things happen with injuries, this opens the door for players coming in to prove their point,” the coach said. “On one side, you want consistency. But when it doesn’t happen, you want to see new players and show their faces. For us coaches, this is very exciting.”
