Tottenham’s South Korean striker Son Heung-Min (2-L) leaves the field after sustaining an injury as Tottenham’s Brazilian midfielder Lucas Moura (R) watches him during the UEFA Champions League Group D soccer match between Olympique Marseille (OM) and Tottenham Hotspur at the Velodrome Stadium in Marseille, southern France on November 1, 2022. (Photo by Christophe SIMON/AFP)
South Korean football fans were worried after Son Heung-min’s face injury story on Friday and feared their World Cup would be ruined if the influential captain was disqualified.
His club Tottenham said the striker suffered a fracture around his left eye and will require surgery, less than three weeks before the country’s opening game in Qatar.
The nasty injury Son suffered in the Champions League win over Marseille earlier this week has put his World Cup in doubt.
Spurs and the Korean Football League are keeping his chances under wraps.
The KFA said: “As for Son Heung-min’s condition for the World Cup, we will have to monitor his progress after the surgery.
“We will stay in touch with Tottenham’s medical staff.”
The Daily Telegraph reports that Son has suffered four orbital fractures, and surgery will be carried out on Friday to give him more time to recover.
Korea’s World Cup opener against Uruguay on November 24. Paulo Bento’s team will also face Ghana and Portugal in Group H.
Son is not only the team’s best player, but also the captain and talisman. He has 35 goals in 104 international matches, including 9 goals in the last 14 matches.
In October last year, he placed 11th in the Ballon d’Or vote, the prestigious award for the best player in the world, and last season together he won the Golden Boot of the Premier League. England for most of the goals.
Although he has yet to lift the title at the club level, in 2018 he led South Korea to a gold medal at the Asian Games.
Underscoring how much he meant to South Korea’s chance, angry fans posted thousands of abusive messages, some racist, on the Marseille defender’s Instagram account, who collided with Son to cause injury.
“Dirty vulgar player. You have ruined our World Cup,” read a message aimed at one Mbemba prime minister.
Son’s World Cup fate dominated the sports pages of South Korean newspapers on Friday, including one that featured a detailed diagram of a human skull to indicate the location of the injury.
‘catastrophic devastation’
Son Heung-min (L) of South Korea celebrates his goal with his teammates against Cameroon during the football friendly match between South Korea and Cameroon in Seoul on September 27, 2022. (Photo by Jung Yeon. -je / AFP)
Korean football writer Steve Han called Son’s possible absence “a potential pain”.
“Son is an integral part of Bento both on and off the pitch,” said Han.
“What makes this injury a potential pain, however, is that Son’s performance for South Korea has gradually improved over the past few years.
“And he added deadly free kicks to his game, which could be South Korea’s main source of scoring against Qatar.”
TV commentator Park Moon-sung said that Son is so important that he could even go to Qatar as a non-competitor.
“He has an important presence in the national team,” Park said, according to Yonhap news agency.
“There should be ways he can help the team as a sub,” he said. “He can also be a cheerleader on the bench for some of the younger boys.”
At the age of 30, Son may well be looking for his last chance to represent Korea on the world stage at the height of his power.
“For all his greatness, he has yet to produce that landmark moment for Korea,” Han said.
He added that missing out on this winter tournament could rob them of the chance to compete against the heroes of 2002, when South Korea reached the semi-finals of the World Cup at home.
“Park Ji-sung is a Korean football legend not only because of his achievements in Europe with Manchester United, but also because of the key moments he created for Korea,” said Han.
That included Park’s winning goal over Portugal in 2002 to send South Korea into the round of 16 for the first time.
“With Portugal once again South Korea’s final opponent in the group stage for the upcoming World Cup, the hope is that he (Son) will repeat in Park’s footsteps,” said Han.
“It would be catastrophic if he missed that opportunity at this stage of his career.”
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