Son Heung-min Back On Road To World Cup After Turbulent Asian Cup

Son Heung-min and South Korea must move on from their turbulent Asian Cup when they return to World Cup qualifying Thursday, while Japan face North Korea in a double-header that sees them travel to Pyongyang. Asian football is back on the road to the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, a month after Qatar retained the continental crown on home soil with a 3-1 victory over Jordan. Much has happened since South Korea were dumped out 2-0 by unfancied Jordan in the semi-finals of the Asian Cup, including the sacking of coach Jurgen Klinsmann.

It emerged that skipper Son and Paris Saint-Germain attacking midfielder Lee Kang-in had been involved in a fracas on the eve of the match, leaving the Tottenham attacker with a dislocated finger.

Legendary German striker Klinsmann was dismissed after having promised to take South Korea to their first Asian title in 64 years. He was replaced on an interim basis by Hwang Sun-hong.

Son and Lee have since made up, and Hwang included the duo in his squad for the home game with Thailand on Thursday and the return fixture five days later.

"Lee Kang-in wanted an opportunity to apologise to fans and his team-mates from the bottom of his heart, and Son Heung-min said we should all embrace Kang-in and move forward," Hwang, South Korea's under-23 coach, said.

"Based on my experience as a national team player, I think issues like this can end up making the team even tighter," he added.

Before Klinsmann's departure, South Korea thrashed Singapore 5-0 and won 3-0 in China to top Group C and will be fully expected to collect six more points against Thailand.

Japan are also eager to move on from the Asian Cup, where they went out 2-1 to Iran in the quarter-finals and never justified