Son Heung-min held out of scrimmage, likely out for friendly vs. Peru

Recovering from a recent sports hernia surgery, South Korean captain Son Heung-min was a limited participant in Wednesday’s training session, likely indicating his absence in an upcoming friendly match against Peru.

Coached by Jurgen Klinsmann, South Korea will host Peru in Busan at 8 p.m. Friday. The team trained for a third straight day at Gudeok Stadium in this southeastern city Wednesday, with Son only joining his teammates for conditioning drills.

Son did not play in the intrasquad scrimmage and also skipped set-piece drills. Son instead worked out with team trainers on the sidelines.

Korea Football Association (KFA) officials had revealed Tuesday that Son had undergone sports hernia surgery in England after the end of the Premier League season with Tottenham Hotspur at the end of May. Klinsmann opened his training camp Monday, but Son, along with a few other Europe-based players who’d arrived back home in late May or early June, had been working out on their own.

Though Son is able to take part in some light drills, he is believed to be experiencing difficulties with shooting.

For the official prematch press conference scheduled for Thursday, Klinsmann picked goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu to accompany him to the podium. The occasion is typically reserved for a player who will get into the lineup for the match, or sometimes the team captain.

Son also was not made available for media scrums before training sessions for the past three days. These developments likely point to his absence from the starting lineup, at least, against Peru.

This will be Klinsmann’s third match on the South Korean bench. Son scored both of South Korean goals in their 2-2 draw against Colombia in Klinsmann’s debut here on March 24. Four days later, they lost to Uruguay 2-1.