Injuries likely to plague Korean squad for June friendlies

Korea's four friendlies in June are supposed to provide an opportunity for the team to practice together ahead of the World Cup, but with a number of players injured or underperforming, head coach Paulo Bento may not be able to field his ideal squad

Paulo Bento [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Korea's four friendlies in June are supposed to provide an important opportunity for the team to practice playing together ahead of the World Cup at the end of the year, but with a number of key players injured or underperforming, head coach Paulo Bento may not be able to field his ideal squad.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) announced Monday that the time and location for the three friendlies against Brazil, Chile and Paraguay has been set.

The first Brazil friendly was already scheduled to be played at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Western Seoul on June 2. The second friendly against Chile will be played at Daejeon World Cup Stadium in Daejeon on June 6, and the last friendly against Paraguay will be played at Suwon World Cup Stadium in Suwon on June 10.

Korea will play another friendly on June 14, but the opponent for that fourth match has yet to be determined.

Despite Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min clearly being on top form, Bento may have some trouble filling the rest of the squad.

Wolverhampton Wanderers' Hwang Hee-chan reacts during a Premier League match against Manchester City at Molineux stadium in Wolverhampton, England on May 11. [AP/YONHAP]

Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Hwang Hee-chan will undoubtedly take his spot on the national team, but if nothing changes in the next week he will be returning to Korea in the midst of a dry spell that has seen him unable to score since February.

Even Hwang Ui-jo of Bordeaux, who usually sits out front for the national team, has scored just once in the last 12 matches for Bordeaux, despite being the club's best scorer this season with 11 goals. Bordeaux has one more match to play in the season and sits at the bottom of the Ligue 1 standings.

FSV Mainz' Lee Jae-sung, left, and Leverkusen's Kerem Demirbay fight for the ball during a Bundesliga match between in Mainz, western Germany on Feb.18. [AFP/YONHAP]

Freiburg's Jeong Woo-yeong, left and Bayern Munich's Lucas Hernandez vie for the ball during a Bundesliga match in Munich on Nov. 6, 2021. [AFP/YONHAP]

Over in Germany, the Bundesliga season ended over the weekend. Of the three Koreans that play in the league, Jeong Woo-young of Freiburg is the only one that is actually fit to join Korea, assuming he doesn't pick up an injury in the DFB-Pokal final on Saturday.

Lee Dong-jun of Hertha Berlin is out with a knee injury, while Lee Jae-sung of FSV Mainz appeared briefly against Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, but left the pitch after just just seven minutes with his own knee injury.

Center back Kim Min-jae of Turkish club Fenerbahce is also out of action after undergoing surgery a few weeks ago.

The roster for the friendlies will be announced on May 23 and athletes will gather on May 30 to train at the National Football Center in Paju, Gyeonggi.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]