Minus Son, S. Korea trying to avenge Asian Cup loss to Jordan in World Cup qualifier

South Korea will try to avenge a crushing loss to Jordan in their World Cup qualifying match this week without their captain Son Heung-min.

South Korea, world No. 23, will take on 68th-ranked Jordan in a Group B match in the third round of the Asian World Cup qualification at Amman International Stadium in Amman on Thursday. The kickoff is 5 p.m. local time or 11 p.m. in South Korea.

It will be the third Group B match for both teams. Jordan are leading the group with four points. South Korea also have four points and the two nations have the same goal difference at +2, but Jordan hold the edge in the next tiebreaker, goals scored, at 4-3.

Iraq, South Korea’s opponent next week, also have four points but have a goal difference of +1.

Jordan blanked South Korea 2-0 in the semifinals of the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup in February, en route to finishing in second place at the top continental tournament. The loss cost then South Korea head coach Jurgen Klinsmann his job.

And South Korea now must try to beat Jordan without Son, who is sidelined with a hamstring injury. The Tottenham Hotspur captain sustained that injury during a UEFA Europa League match against Qarabag on Sept. 26 in London, and has since missed three matches for Spurs.

South Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo initially put Son on his 26-man squad on Sept. 30 but dropped him four days later. He called up Mainz 05 midfielder Hong Hyun-seok as Son’s replacement.

In announcing his squad, coach Hong said he had a Plan B in mind in case Son couldn’t go and he also trusted the abilities of other attackers to fill the void.

One of those players, Hwang Hee-chan of Wolverhampton Wanderers, will have to shake off his sluggish start to the new Premier League season and pick up the scoring load for the national team.

After leading Wolves with 12 goals last season, Hwang has not yet scored in six league matches so far this season. He only started two of those six contests and has only played the full 90 minutes once.

In explaining his decision to still pick Hwang, Hong said a struggling player could feel rejuvenated after international duty and he hoped that would be the case for Hwang.

Hwang performed well for South Korea at the start of the third round last month. He was the offensive sparkplug off the bench in the team’s goalless draw against Palestine on Sept. 5 and then scored South Korea’s first goal in their 3-1 win over Oman five days later.

Three months into his tenure, Hong remains under heavy scrutiny due to controversial circumstances surrounding his hiring.

The sports ministry is scheduled to wrap up its investigation into the operations at the Korea Football Association (KFA) by the end of this month. In announcing interim findings of its probe last Wednesday, the ministry concluded that while the KFA had broken rules when hiring Hong, it didn’t believe such violations were bad enough to have Hong’s contract voided. The ministry also said problems would have been prevented had the KFA gone ahead with negotiating a deal with Hong, who was at the top of the list of candidates, instead of interviewing two foreign-born candidates ranked below him.

That has not assuaged the angry fan base. Hong himself has expressed frustration with the situation, though there seems to be little he can do at the moment other than coaching South Korea to wins.

South Korea have played at every World Cup since 1986.