SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo has accused Bayern Munich of not looking after Kim Min-jae properly after he withdrew the central defender from his squad for two World Cup qualifiers to receive treatment on an Achilles injury.
Kim was named in Hong’s 28-man squad last Monday for the qualifiers against Oman and Jordan but withdrawn on Saturday for “treatment on his left Achilles tendonitis and rehab”.
Hong told reporters at training in Goyang that the national team coaching staff had been aware for a while of “warning signs” that the injury might flare up.
“Unfortunately, Bayern Munich did not properly protect the player to prevent injury so we’ve ended up in a situation where we have to play these important matches without a key player,” Hong said.
“Just because a match is important doesn’t mean it’s right to have Kim on the pitch. There have been warning signs since last year and we were fully aware of them.
“We couldn’t keep Kim Min-jae around for these important games because it would run counter to our principles of protecting players. So we’ve made the decision to rest him.”
Kim missed Bayern’s 1-1 draw with Union Berlin in the Bundesliga last weekend but has played 13 of the club’s 16 matches since the German winter break ended.
FC Seoul centre half Kim Ju-sung, who has played only two previous internationals, will replace the Bayern player in the heart of the South Korea defence, Hong said.
“We had Kim Ju-sung with the national team last year and he has some experience with our system. That’s why we chose him. He has been excellent so far in the K League,” Hong added.
South Korea could secure one of the two automatic tickets to the 2026 finals from Group B with two qualifiers to spare if they beat Oman in Goyang on Thursday and Jordan in Suwon five days later.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford)
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