Football
Michael Church, Asia correspondent 7y

Son Heung-Min training again, Ki Sung-Yueng 'questionable' for Korea

South Korea head coach Shin Tae-Yong has put a question mark over the availability of Swansea City midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng for his nation's crunch World Cup qualifying match against Iran on Aug. 31.

The Koreans need to pick up a win against the Iranians, who have already qualified for Russia 2018. That would get their campaign back on track following a loss against Qatar in early June that put the country's hopes of qualifying for a ninth straight World Cup in jeopardy.

Ki underwent knee surgery during the Premier League close season while Son has recovered from breaking his arm during the defeat in Doha. The latter should be ready for the meeting with Carlos Queiroz's team.

"Son joined his team's training, and Ki began jogging," Shin told the Korean media. "But for Ki, it's still questionable whether he can be fully fit to play the matches."

Shin was appointed as head coach of the South Korea team after Uli Stieleke was fired following the loss against Qatar. It left The Taeguk Warriors in second place in Group A of Asia's qualifying tournament for next year's finals.

The Koreans are just a point ahead of Uzbekistan with two games remaining, with the two nations meeting in their final group game on Sep. 5 in Tashkent.

Shin led South Korea to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, having previously won the AFC Champions League crown as head coach of Seongnam Ilhwa in 2010.

The 46-year-old has received approval from the Korea Football Association to bring his domestic-based players together for training a week earlier than originally planned, so he is looking to include players who will be committed to the challenge ahead.

"I want a player who can devote himself until the final whistle," said Shin, who was an Asian Club Championship winner as a player with Ilhwa Chunma in 1995.

"As for the attacking position, we need to have a player who can show that a striker isn't only about scoring goals."

Shin claimed he has already completed some of his preparation work for the game at the end of the month, shifting some of his focus on the game in Tashkent.

"We've already finished our analysis on Iran, and we've just started looking at Uzbekistan matches," he said.

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