South Korea will name Son Heung-min in their World Cup squad despite the Tottenham Hotspur star suffering an injury last week.
Many feared the worst when Son suffered a head injury against Marseille in the Champions League.
Son came off looking very groggy and it was alter confirmed that the Spurs star had suffered a fractured eye socket.
That left Son’s World Cup hopes in danger but successful surgery means there is still hope for him to feature in Qatar.
South Korea will name Son Heung-min in their World Cup squad
This may be a case of Son having to play with a protective mask but South Korea appear to have no concerns.
South Korea boss Paulo Bento has been quoted by the Yonhap News Agency as saying that Son will ‘of course’ be called up for World Cup duty.
Bento admitted that he is not even thinking about a Plan B in attack and wants to bring Son along to Qatar despite his injury.
The Portuguese coach added that this is ‘not an easy situation’ but South Korea will make the right decision over his health.
There is absolutely no doubt that Son is South Korea’s biggest hope heading into this World Cup.
The 30-year-old has smashed 35 goals in 104 caps for South Korea and captains the team.
There are other quality players in the South Korea squad; Napoli defender Kim Min-jae springs to mind, as do Hwang Hee-chan of Wolves and Lee Jae-sung of Mainz.
Yet none of them really have the gravitas of Son and everybody back in South Korea will be desperate for him to be fit enough to play.
South Korea take on Uruguay, Ghana and Portugal in what looks like a Group of Death.
Son could be the difference between South Korea having some hope and being dumped out quickly, so Bento needs his star man to be fit and firing.
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