Klinsmann’s squad has suffered another injury: flanker Moon Sun-min (32, Jeonbuk Hyundai) pulled a hamstring.
The South Korean national football team, led by Jürgen Klinsmann, trained at the Al Egla Training Center in Doha, Qatar, on Monday (Feb. 28) in preparation for the match against Saudi Arabia.
South Korea finished second in Group E at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) 2023 Qatar Asian Cup. They will face Saudi Arabia in the Round of 16 at 1 p.m. on Nov. 31 at the Al Rayyan Education City Stadium in Qatar.
Klinsmann began training at 4 p.m. local time on Aug. 28. This is the first time the national team has practiced in the afternoon instead of the morning. South Korea had been practicing at 2:30 p.m., but with the Saudi Arabia game at 7 p.m., the team adjusted its training time.
There were 25 players on the field, including “practice partner” Kim Jun-hong. The one exception was Moon Sun-min. According to a Korean Football Association (KFA) official, he felt something wrong with his hamstring while stretching his right leg during training the day before.
As a result, he did not board the bus to the training ground today and is being treated at his hotel. A KFA official said, “Moon is unlikely to play against Saudi Arabia. It will be difficult for him to train tomorrow as well.”
There is also good news. He has been training individually since injuring his right hamstring in the second group game against Jordan. On the 27th, after a group stretch, he went to a corner of the training field to focus on his recovery.
However, he returned with a quick recovery. A KFA official said, “He will also do some team training. His will to return is strong. He came back much faster than we feared. We can say that he is recovering miraculously.”
Fortunately, Hwang Hee-chan and Kim Jin-soo are reportedly in good shape. The duo made their comeback as late substitutes against Malaysia and practiced normally today.
A KFA official said, “Both Hwang Hee-chan and Kim Jin-soo are in much better shape than expected. It’s worth looking forward to the full-time possibility. In fact, we were expecting the quarterfinals, but the treatment was good and the players worked hard. They have a good chance of playing in the next match.”
Meanwhile, after a quick run, Klinsmann split into two groups for different drills. One group worked on passing drills under the direction of Coach Chaduri, while the other group worked on balance drills while standing on one foot and receiving the ball. Coach Chaduri encouraged the players by shouting “Good!” and “Sideways!”.