Chinese media have expressed doubts about Son Jun-ho’s call-up to the South Korean national soccer team. Son insists there is no chance of him traveling to South Korea for the A-match.
South Korea national soccer team head coach Jürgen Klinsmann announced the new roster for the June A match against Peru and El Salvador at 9 a.m. on Friday at the multipurpose room on the second floor of the Football Hall in Shinmun-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul. Klinsmann’s men will face Peru on June 16 at 8 p.m. at the Busan Asiad Stadium and El Salvador on June 20 at 8 p.m. at the Daejeon World Cup Stadium.
The most talked-about player on the roster is Son Jun-ho. Son has been detained by Chinese police for over three weeks on suspicion of bribing a non-government official. Since then, his situation has been completely unknown to the outside world. After a brief interview at the Korean Consulate General in Shenyang, the situation has gone completely dark. The Korean Football Association recently sent its chief executive officer, Jeon Han-jin, and a lawyer to China to check on Son’s situation and offer assistance, but they were unable to make any contact and returned home empty-handed. At this point, it is highly unlikely that Son will be able to join the national team, yet Klinsmann called him up.
The Chinese media has taken a strange view of the situation. Chinese media outlet Sina.com said, “The Korean Football Association’s announcement of the national team roster is surprising as Son Jun-ho is still in custody on suspicion of bribing a non-government official. He disappeared from the fans’ sight after the match between Shandong Luneng and Chengdu Rongcheng. In this situation, South Korea named him to the roster. However, he will not be able to participate in any of the team’s training sessions.”
“At the moment, we still don’t have any answers about the case. We still have to wait. Also, from May 12 to June 5, Son did not train or play at all. He is currently in no condition to play for the South Korean national soccer team.”
Another Chinese media outlet, Sohu.com, also published an article titled “What’s going on” about Son Jun-ho’s inclusion in the Korean national soccer team when they announced the new roster. The Chinese media didn’t understand why Son was called up to the national team.
The general consensus is that Klinsmann’s call-up was more of a show of support for the player 스포츠토토.
In a press conference, Klinsmann said, “Everyone is shocked by Son’s situation. His situation is beyond our control. We continue to do what we can as an association. We will do everything we can to support him. We don’t know how he is doing mentally and physically. But his performance in the two A matches in March was good, and now our role is to pray for him and help him come home as soon as possible,” said the coach, explaining the reasons behind the selection. He added that the roster could change next week.