JAKARTA - Tottenham Hotspur striker Son Heung-min is confirmed to be fit to defend South Korea against Uruguay in the first match of the Qatar 2022 World Cup Group H at Education City Stadium, Thursday, November 24 evening WIB.
However, the Korean national team captain will still wear a face shield mask in that match. The reason is, he just underwent surgery earlier this month after suffering a broken bone injury around his left eye in the match against Marseille in the European Champions League.
"Son can play," said Korean coach Paulo Bento, quoted by BBC Sport, Thursday, November 24, 2022.
"The fact that he will wear a mask is not a hassle for him. It's natural for him," he continued.
The facial injury made Son feared that he would miss this year's World Cup. However, his name then appeared in the Korean squad to be brought to Qatar.
He flew to Qatar after scoring 35 goals in 104 appearances for South Korea. He will try to increase the number of goals he scored while defending Korea in the group also occupied by Portugal and Ghana.
"Our hope is that he will feel comfortable as far as possible. He knows, and we know that after this injury we cannot take any risks," said Bento.
On paper Uruguay is favored to win against Korea. So far Uruguay has won two meetings against Korea in the previous World Cup.
The first victory occurred in the group stage at Udine in Italy at the 1990 World Cup. The second victory occurred in the last 16 of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
However, South Korea came with ambitions to become the third Asian team to beat opponents from South America at the World Cup after Japan beat Colombia 2-1 in 2018 and Saudi Arabia won with the same score versus Argentina on Tuesday.
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