[마이데일리 = 장윤호 기자]Is there really a ‘World Cup final qualifier team without Son Heung-min (29. Tottenham Hotspur)’ in Paulo Bento (52. Portugal) manager’s idea?
Bentuho won 1-0 in the second leg of the 2022 Qatar World Cup final qualifier against Lebanon at the Suwon World Cup Stadium on the 7th, and recorded 1 win and 1 draw including a 0-0 draw against Iraq on the 2nd. The next match will be the home match against Syria on the 7th of October and the away match against Iran on the 12th.
Now I have a serious problem. It would have been much easier if we had two wins in Iraq and Lebanon, or if we had scored more than one win and one draw. However, with 1 win, 1 draw and 1 goal, captain Son Heung-min missed the match against Lebanon on the 7th due to an injury. A fatally unexpected event occurred.
Heung-Min Son’s full-time appearance in Iraq drew 0-0, and he won 1-0 in Lebanon, which he missed, so it can be considered a strange result.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) announced on the same day that “Heung-Min Son was excluded from the entry due to a muscle strain in his right calf two hours before the start of the game.” Although it was not disclosed externally, considering that the game was played at 8 p.m., Son Heung-min’s physical condition must have been reported from this morning, and it seems that the medical team had carefully analyzed whether he was able to participate.
After reaching the conclusion that it was impossible in the end, Bento would have hastily found an alternative. What is interesting is that coach Bento’s second half ‘Chang-Hoon Kwon (27. Suwon Samsung) substitution card’ hit. As the 0-0 situation continued, coach Bento put in Kwon Chang-hoon following Hwang Ui-jo (29. Bordeaux) in the second half, and Kwon Chang-hoon scored the winning goal two minutes after entering. The national team did not concede, but the failure to score an additional goal made the viewers frustrated and ended the match 1-0.
But who is Kwon Chang-hoon? He is a striker selected by coach Hak-beom Kim as a wild card for the last Tokyo Olympic team, ‘instead of Son Heung-min’.
At that time, coach Kim Hak-beom said, ‘Heung-min Son is a valuable asset of Korean football. Going back and forth between the Tokyo Olympics in August, a regular match between Tottenham Hotspur, and the World Cup qualifiers again in early September is an unreasonable schedule. injury is a concern. So I showed my will to participate in the Tokyo Olympics, but I didn’t make the final selection.”
Director Kim Hak-beom ended up in the quarterfinals of the Tokyo Olympics, which he participated without Son Heung-min. and resigned as supervisor. At that time, Kwon Chang-hoon, who coach Kim Hak-beom used as a ‘wild card’, became the savior of Korean football with Bento in this match against Lebanon. It was Kwon Chang-hoon’s 7th goal in match A.
If you listen to the opinions of experts, the final qualifier in October is likely to be ‘Bentuho without Son Heung-min’. Within a month, I have to go back to London, England, and even an expedition to Iran. Son Heung-min, returning to Tottenham Hotspur with a right calf muscle sprain, seems to be getting heavier, but it is unknown when he will recover from his injury and be able to play normally.
[손흥민이 7일 오후 경기도 수원월드컵경기장에서 열린 ‘2022 카타르월드컵 아시아지역 최종예선’ A조 2차전 대한민국-레바논의 경기에서 박수를 치고 있다. 사진=곽경훈 기자 kphoto@mydaily.co.kr]
By Jang Yun-ho, staff reporter changyh218@mydaily.co.kr
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