Son Heung-min (Tottenham), the captain and key striker of the national soccer team, did not appear at the training ground on the 11th, two days before the match against Tunisia.
The national soccer team, led by coach Jurgen Klinsmann, warmed up at Paju NFC on the 11th in preparation for a two-game series against Tunisia (Seoul) on the 13th and Vietnam (Suwon) on the 17th.
On this day, only 23 of the 24 players in the national team showed up, excluding Son Heung-min.스포츠토토
Although Son Heung-min has been on the field for the past two days, he has only done personal training by jogging and cycling, but on this day he missed training altogether.
Instead, Son Heung-min only focused on recovery by riding a cycle indoors and getting a massage.
This is because the inner thigh injury, which has been a problem since Tottenham, has not fully healed.
An official from the Korea Football Association (KFA) explained, “We have been continuously communicating about Son Heung-min’s physical condition even before the call-up. He is not currently in pain and there are no problems with exercising. However, we are preparing carefully in case something goes wrong.” did.
Regarding his participation in the match against Tunisia to be held on the 13th, he said, “I will decide whether to participate after hearing the team doctor’s final opinion on the 12th.”
Meanwhile, Coach Klinsmann said in a previous interview, “Of course Son Heung-min will want to play in the A match. He will not exclude any specific players from playing.”
Son Heung-min will attend the pre-match press conference against Tunisia to be held at Paju NFC on the 12th on behalf of the team and will provide more clarity on whether he will participate and his physical condition.
Currently, Son Heung-min is ranked tied for 7th place in all-time men’s national team appearances with his 113 A-match appearances. If he plays against Tunisia, he will surpass Cho Young-jeung and rise to sole 7th place.
On this day, 23 players, excluding Son Heung-min, underwent a physical fitness test with a shuttle run, also known as ‘Beep Beep’.
Athletes ran back and forth for a distance of approximately 20 meters according to the signal and checked their stamina and heart rate recovery. This is the first time since Coach Klinsmann took office last March.
A KFA official said, “Coach Klinsmann wants to have a database by conducting various tests, such as long jump, as well as shuttle run.”
Meanwhile, despite the difficult physical test, the national team’s mood was bright. Coach Klinsmann was also in a good mood throughout the core program, correcting Lee Kang-in’s posture and joking with him.
Kim Tae-hwan explained, “The four people who won gold medals at the Asian Games (Lee Kang-in, Jung Woo-young, Seol Young-woo, and Hong Hyun-seok) kept smiling. I think the team atmosphere got better thanks to that.”