South Korea’s head coach Hong Myung-bo has been speaking about how involved Heung-min Son will be in the upcoming international break in light of the forward’s recent injuries.
Son working his way back to full fitness
Son is still not 100 per cent fit, as evidenced by the fact that Ange Postecoglou withdrew him in the 55th minute of Tottenham‘s win over Aston Villa on Sunday.
The 32-year-old was far from happy to come off, but the Spurs boss insisted in his post-match press conference that his captain was never going to play more than 55 minutes, given his recent injury issues (Football.London).
Tottenham now face Galatasaray and Ipswich Town in back-to-back away matches before Son joins his national team for the international break.
Hong Myung-bo’s confession about Son
South Korea have two big World Cup qualifiers coming up during the international break against Kuwait and Palestine.
Hong Myung-bo has insisted that Son‘s minutes will depend on how he fares over the next week, admitting that he would be careful not to burden his captain with more minutes than he is ready for.
Hong said about Son’s availability (via Yonhap News Agency): “We will see how much his playing time increases in the next two matches, and that will be part of our preparation for the two November games.
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“I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to push him hard on the national team just because he has returned to action for his club. We’ll first have to see how much he plays in his next club match, and we’ll go from there.
“I obviously understand he wants to play for the national team. But first and foremost, we have to protect his health.”
Son is unlikely to feature against Galatasaray
Postecoglou is evidently being very careful with Son as he knows how important the forward is to his side.
One would thus expect the Spurs captain to sit out the game against Galatasaray, with Timo Werner likely to be back in the starting eleven.
The former Bayer Leverkusen man would be expected to play against Ipswich Town but Postecoglou will be managing his minutes again, and he will hope that Hong Myung-bo does the same during the international break.