Injured Premier Leaguers Son, Hwang temporarily left off S. Korean team for World Cup qualifiers

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Jan. 17 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's two Premier League players, Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur and Hwang Hee-chan of Wolverhampton Wanderers, were kept off the national team for upcoming World Cup qualifiers on Monday because of injuries, with the final decision to be made later based on their recovery.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) said the men's national team head coach Paulo Bento added six players to the current roster of 27 during their training camp in Antalya, Turkey. Bento opened camp there earlier this month to prepare for World Cup qualifying matches against Lebanon on Jan. 27 and Syria on Feb. 1.

The half-dozen new players are: Kim Min-jae of Fenerbahce, Jung Woo-young of Al-Sadd, Jeong Woo-yeong of SC Freiburg, Hwang In-beom of Kazan, Lee Jae-sung of Mainz 05 and Hwang Ui-jo of FC Girondins de Bordeaux. They didn't join training camp at the beginning because it wasn't part of the FIFA international match calendar and thus their clubs weren't obliged to release them.

An undetermined number of players will be cut after South Korea's friendly match against Moldova on Friday, the KFA added.

Son, who picked up a leg muscle injury two weeks ago, and Hwang Hee-chan, who sustained a hamstring injury in December, didn't get the callup this time. Tottenham had earlier said Son would likely miss the rest of January while Wolverhampton said Hwang is expected to be back in February.

Bento said last Friday and again after the match Saturday that he was holding out hope that both Son and Hwang would recover in time for the World Cup qualifiers. The KFA said Monday that Bento maintained his stance.

"We should wait as much as we can for the recovery of those players. Then we will take the final decision," Bento said in an interview Friday. "They're two important players, players that have features to create many situations in the attacking phase. If they aren't able to come, we need to find another solution."

After playing Moldova on Friday, South Korea will travel to Istanbul on Saturday to continue their training, and then fly to Lebanon on Jan. 25.

Asian countries are in the final round of their regional qualification for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. South Korea are in second place in Group A with four matches remaining, two points back of Iran at 14 points.

The top two nations from each of the two groups will punch automatic tickets to Qatar. South Korea can secure one with a victory over Lebanon.

South Korea have been to every World Cup since 1986.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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