UK media says Son is likely to play in World Cup

It was reported that the captain of the South Korean national football team Son Heung-min’s surgery for a fracture around his eye, which occurred during a Champions League game of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), went successfully. A member of the Korea Football Association said before the national team’s training in the Paju National Football Center on Saturday that Tottenham Hotspur said Son’s surgery went well. However, he added that it is too early to mention Son’s ability to play in the World Cup as he just received surgery. “The South Korean national team is continuously communicating with Tottenham Hotspur regarding Son’s injury.”

The Daily Telegraph based in the U.K. also reported on Saturday that Son Heung-min underwent successful surgery on Friday to resolve the four separate eye socket fractures that he sustained in Tottenham Hotspur’s Champions League tie with Marseille, and he is confident he will be ready to play some part in the World Cup finals. The newspaper also cited as an example Kevin De Bruyne who participated in Euro 2020 right after surgery during the final of the 2020 UEFA Champions League.

Son, who is in recovery from surgery, will not compete in Tottenham Hotspur’s games until the Qatar World Cup. The team’s manager Antonio Conte said in an interview with Sky Sports on Sunday that Son’s surgery went well and hoped for a quick recovery so that he could play in the World Cup. The manager also added that Son wouldn’t be able to compete in three matches scheduled before the World Cup. He will miss league matches against Liverpool on Monday, Leeds United on Sunday, and a league cup game against Nottingham Forest on Thursday.


Jae-Yeong Yoo elegant@donga.com