February 14 – Son Heung-Min reportedly injured his finger in a South Korean bust-up at the recent Asian Cup in Qatar where the Taegeuk Warriors crashed out in the last four against tournament revelation Jordan.
The Tottenham star dislocated a finger in an altercation with teammates about table tennis and dining etiquette on the eve of their crunch match with the Jordanians, according to reports in The Sun and Yonhap. Some younger players on the team – including Lee Kang-in of Paris Saint-Germain – rushed through their meal so they could play table tennis.
This infuriated Son, who got into a brawl with Lee Kang-in. It is understood that the team had shown previous fractures between a younger group around Lee Kang-in and veterans around Son.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) confirmed on Wednesday that the reports were true. “It happened when some young players went up to play table tennis, and Son Heung-min and other older players took issue with it,” an official was quoted as saying by Yonhap. “The players exchanged a few words and Son hurt his finger in the process.”
Son was seen with his fingers taped when he returned to club action with Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League at the weekend. Last week, Son played the Asian Cup semi-final with two of his fingers on his right hand strapped together.
South Korea have not won the continental trophy since 1960 and they were among the favourites to lift the Asian Cup this time with several marquee players in their ranks but under manager Jurgen Klinsmann the Koreans did not deliver a single flawless performance and stumbled their way through the tournament, often with late comebacks earning their style of play the nickname ‘zombie football’. Their luck ran out in a 2-0 defeat against Jordan.
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