Son Heung-min was called up to play against Vietnam

The striker born in 1992 is the captain of Tottenham and is considered the best Asian football player in history.

Since the start of the 2023-2024 season, he has scored six goals, ranking second in the race for the Premier League's Golden Boot - two goals less than Erling Haaland. Thanks to that, the "Rooster" has also climbed to second place in the table with 17 points, just one point behind Man City. The opening goal against Liverpool, in a 2-1 victory in round 7 last weekend, was also Son's 200th goal for European teams.

Son has played 113 times for the national team, ranking seventh in South Korea's all-time list, 23 behind the legendary Cha Bum-kun. He is also third in the all-time scoring list with 37 goals, 21 behind Cha.

In the 2018 Asiad semi-finals, Son and the Korean Olympic team won 3-1 against Vietnam under coach Park Hang-seo.

In addition to Son, South Korea also called up many other stars, such as center back Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), midfielder Lee Kang-in (PSG), Hwang Hee-chan - who scored to help Wolves beat Man City 2-1 in the Premier League last weekend. In total, in the South Korean squad, there are 11 players playing in Europe, two players in Saudi Arabia and the rest in the country.

South Korea will gather at the Paju National Training Center on October 9. They will play two friendly matches at home, against Tunisia on October 12 and Vietnam on October 17.

After being eliminated in the round of 16 of the 2022 World Cup, South Korea parted ways with coach Paulo Bento and signed a contract with German football legend Jurgen Klinsmann. They are under a lot of pressure because of their unsatisfactory results in six friendly matches since the beginning of 2023, drawing 2-2 with Colombia, losing 1-2 to Uruguay, 0-1 to Peru, drawing 1-1 with El Salvador, 0-0 to Wales and beating Saudi Arabia 1-0.

In the past, Korea met Vietnam six times. They won five, and lost one (0-1 in 2003, in the 2004 Asian Cup qualifiers with the only goal from Pham Van Quyen).

Before going to Korea, Vietnam will train in China, playing friendly matches with the host team on October 10 and Uzbekistan on October 13. The upcoming matches with strong opponents are good practice for the team to prepare for the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup, meeting the Philippines and Iraq in November. After that, Vietnam will participate in the 2023 Asian Cup in Qatar in January 2024, in the same group with Indonesia, Iraq and Japan.

List of South Korean football teams

Goalkeeper (3): Kim Seung-gyu (Al-Shabab), Kim Joon-hong (Gimcheon Sangmu), Jo Hyeon-woo (Ulsan Hyundai)

Defender (8): Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), Kim Young-won, Jung Seung-hyun, Kim Tae-hwan, Seol Young-woo (Ulsan Hyundai), Kim Ju-sung (FC Seoul), Kim Jin-su (Jeonbuk Hyundai ), Lee Ki-je (Suwon Samsung)

Midfielder (10): Moon Seon-min (Jeonbuk Hyundai), Park Yong-woo (Al-Ain), Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur), Lee Kang-in (PSG), Lee Soon-min (Gwangju FC), Lee Jae-sung (Mainz 05), Jeong Woo-yeong (VfB Stuttgart), Hong Hyun-seok (KAA Gent), Hwang Im-beom (Red Star Belgrade), Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton Wanderers)

Forward (3): Oh Hyeong-yu (Celtic), Cho Gue-sung (Midtjyland), Hwang Ui-jo (Norwich City).