Chinese media have expressed doubts over Son Jun-ho’s call-up to the South Korean national football team. He insists there is no way he will be travelling to South Korea for the A-match.
South Korea national football team head coach Jürgen Klinsmann announced his new squad for the June double-header against Peru and El Salvador at 9 a.m. on Friday in the multipurpose room on the second floor of the Football Hall, located at Shinmun-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul. Klinsmann’s men will face Peru at the Busan Asiad Stadium on 16 June at 8pm and El Salvador at the Daejeon World Cup Stadium on 20 June at 8pm.스포츠토토
The most talked-about player on the roster is Son Jun-ho. He 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 South Korean Consulate General in Shenyang, it’s been a complete blackout. The Korean Football Association sent its chief executive officer, Jeon Han-jin, and a lawyer to China recently to check on the situation and offer assistance, but they returned empty-handed after failing to make any contact. At this point, it is highly unlikely that Son will be able to join the national team, yet Klinsmann has called him up.
The Chinese media has taken a strange view of the situation. Chinese media outlet Sina.com said: “The KFA’s announcement of the national team roster is surprising as Son Jun-ho is still in detention on suspicion of bribing a non-government official. He disappeared from fans’ sight after the match between Shandong Luneng and Chengdu Rongcheng. In this situation, South Korea named him to the squad. However, he will not be able to participate in the team’s training at all.”
“At the moment, we still don’t have any answers about the case. We still have to wait. Also, from 12 May to 5 June, Son Jun-ho did not train or play at all. He is currently in no condition to play for the South Korean national football team.”
Another Chinese media outlet, Sohu.com, also published an article titled “What’s going on with Son Jun-ho’s call-up to the national team” while introducing the new roster of the South Korean national football team. The Chinese media didn’t understand why Son was called up to the national team.
The general consensus is that the main reason for Klinsmann’s call-up is still more of a show of support for the player.
“Everyone is shocked by his situation,” Klinsmann said in a press conference. 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 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 to come home as soon as possible,” he explained. He added that the roster could change next week.