Team Korea to play a World Cup warm-up match against Brazil

Football fans will have a chance to enjoy a face-off between South Korean football player Son Heung-min of the Tottenham Hotspur and famous Brazilian attacker Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior of the Paris Saint-Germain club during a warm-up match.

The South Korean national football team led by head coach Paulo Bento will play a warm-up game against Brazil at Al-Jazira Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates on Nov. 19. The news was released to the public as the Brazilian Football Confederation issued an A-match schedule on its website on Sunday.

It has been reported that Nov. 14 will see Korea’s second regional qualifying match against Lebanon in Beirut for the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Korea will move to Abu Dhabi to fight against Brazil, which will arrive following its warm-up game with Argentina in Saudi Arabia on Nov. 15.

Being in third place in FIFA’s global rankings, Brazil will likely mobilize all of its top players including Neymar in next month’s warm-up matches to compete with another strong team Argentina. Added to this, FC Barcelona captain Lionel Messi will make a return after his absence due to a three-month ban issued by the South American Football Confederation. The ban was imposed on the world-famous Argentine football player for his comments on referees made at a Copa America game in July.

However, there is some uncertainty over Neymar’s joining in next month’s A-match games considering that he got this year’s third injury in the game held Sunday at Singapore National Stadium. He limped off after just 12 minutes of Brazil’s friendly match with Nigeria that ended up with a 1-1 draw. The details on his injury have not been reported yet. 　


Won-Joo Lee takeoff@donga.com