Captain is here! Son Heung-min returns home with a bright face

Son arrived at Incheon International Airport through Terminal 2. After finishing the third round of the English Premier League with Newcastle United last weekend, he boarded a flight from London and met with Korean fans for more than 11 hours.

Son Heung-min, wearing a long-sleeved knitwear to fit the cool weather, waved his hands at the arrival hall to express his gratitude to fans' hospitality. Smiling as he received all the letters carefully prepared by his fans despite his tiring schedule, Son Heung-min hurriedly left Incheon International Airport in a vehicle waiting outside the arrival hall.

Son will join the Korean national soccer team immediately. The new team, which will start anew under the new coach Hong Myung-bo, convened at a hotel in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province on Tuesday and started its first training session at Goyang Stadium. The first training session involved 12 K-League players and 19 players including Lee Jae-sung (Mainz) and Um Ji-sung (Swansea City). One day later due to his team's schedule, Son ran to Goyang without giving up his break time.

Hong Myung-bo, which will be re-introduced for the first time in 10 years, will try to advance to the finals for the 11th consecutive time through the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North and Central America. It will face Palestine at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on the 5th and then play away matches in Oman on the 10th.

Hong Myung-bo, who plans to capture both details and results in his first departure in September, has called on all key European players including Son Heung-min, Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), and Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton Wanderers). Coach Hong Myung-bo, who had an interview with Son in Europe last month, continued to take the role of captain of the national team, showing great trust in the team.

As soon as Son Heung-min joins the team, the national team will step up preparations for the World Cup qualifying round. Coach Hong Myung-bo will hold a tactical meeting as a whole group later in the day before the training begins. The training session, which was usually held around 5 p.m., will also be moved to 7 p.m. on the day. "The entire team has no time to hold a tactical meeting, so we decided to hold it before the training," said an official at the Korea Football Association.

Son is expected to warm up from Friday afternoon's training session. Son has 48 goals in 127 A-match games. He is tying for fourth and third in the number of A-match games played in Korean men's soccer history. 메이저사이트

If Son Heung-min participates in both consecutive games in September, he will become the sole fourth-ranked player with the largest number of appearances, beating Lee Young-pyo. Cha Bum-keun and Hong Myung-bo (136 matches) will rank No. 1 in this category, while Lee Woon-jae (133 matches) will rank third. If he also scores two more goals, he will tie for second place with Hwang Sun-hong (50 goals). Cha is also ranking first in this category with 58 goals.