Alan Shearer does not expect Son Heung-min to have a big impact at the World Cup as the chances of South Korea progressing in the tournament are slim.
Qualification to the knockout stages will be a difficult challenge for South Korea, who find themselves in a tough group along with Portugal, Uruguay and Ghana.
They will need Son to be at his best to give themselves a fighting chance of making it into the round of 16 and their fans will have been pleased to have seen the Tottenham man training with a protective mask this week after having surgery on his fractured eye socket.
The Taegeuk Warriors start their campaign with a clash against Uruguay on November 24 and Rodrigo Bentancur has told El Pais that he expects his Spurs teammate to start the game with a protective mask.
Shearer was asked to pick between 10 stars from different countries ahead of the World Cup, with Son being one of the names on the list. The former Newcastle striker picked the 30-year-old in ninth place, reasoning that he does not expect Paulo Bento’s side to do well in Qatar.
Shearer told BBC MOTD’s Top 10: “Yeah [i don’t expect South Korea to do brilliantly]. They’ve got a tough group. Portugal, Ghana and Uruguay. They might get out of it, but I don’t expect them to go much further than that. That is why I’ve got him ninth.”
Spurs Web Opinion
South Korea have some excellent players but they have not been helped by the difficult group they have been handed. Portugal and Uruguay are the two clear favourites to progress from Group H but the Koreans are more than capable of pulling off an upset, just as they did against Germany in 2018.
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