There's a longish report on Son at http://www.hsv.de/teams/meldungen/bundesliga/september-2010/heung-min-son/ - too bad they removed the english version of the website some time ago. Nothing new there, just a documentation of his current rehab routine.
Always great to see one of our young players blending into the foreign clubhouse this well. Part of me actually want Son to skip out on the U-20 and Asian Games (two tourneys which he may get called up for IIRC) so that he makes a comfortable enough recovery and get more time playing for Hamburg... he's very young so he'll still have plenty of tournaments to gain his exemption chance anyway.
I'm with you on this. Let him heal properly by avoiding the extra travel and focus on getting back to form where he might be able to get some playing time with the Hamburg 1st team. But if Hamburg can confirm in advance that Son might not get much 1st team action, might as well let him regain his form with the NT.
I doubt he'd get first team action so soon after recovery. He should play in the Asian Games. In the long run, it's vital for a player like him to be fighting for military exemption. I really hope we win the Gold this time. There's too many players with potential to be rotting their skills in the military.
More or less the same thing: http://www.abendblatt.de/region/nor...entschmiede-des-HSV-steht-in-Norderstedt.html
If some of his colleagues in continue to show modest to abysmal perfomances like in the game against Nürnberg, Hamburg would actually need three players like Son. So I strongly hope he doesn't get called up to any tournaments this fall.
Does he have military service obligations? He's technically a high school dropout like LCY. Perhaps we can spare him of the Asian Olympics?
IIRC LCY is exempt because he dropped out of school while that rule was still in effect... and unfortunately for Son, they changed the rule shortly after that to no longer granting exemption for the dropouts. So he is still required to serve as of this time.
You have to be a middle school dropout, which Son Heungmin is not. The rule (that got Lee Chungyong exempt) is still in effect, but it's no longer applicable to most domestic footballers because you need to be at least 18 to be drafted at K-League.
Ah. Well, there you go, the correct explanation. Unfortunately, yeah... in the end the fact is that Son is not exempt.
LOL as if Koreans aren't educated enough at that age Anyways, it's a big risk to drop out of middle school and not have your footballing career work out... then you're really screwed
I always thought that rule was more for kids from impoverished backgrounds who drop out because there is no other choice than to work and make money for the family. Footballers like LCY are more of a loophole kind of deal. Or am I wrong? I doubt they made the rule just so promising football talents can find a way out of military duty. Also, I'm sure everyone here knows someone who is a male Korean citizen but doesn't live in Korea and therefore doesn't serve. They just can't stay in the country for more than 6 months. If someone like Baek Seung-Ho has been in Spain since his early teens, does he have to serve as long as he isn't living in Korea?
I thought it was more to do with the public backlash that can come for "draft-dodging" that we've seen with Korean celebrities. Even my dad who loves the KNT thinks military service is something that is essential to being a Korean man and that all loopholes should be closed... That being said, is Korea the only country that is facing such football career vs. compulsory military service dilemmas? Surely there are other countries that have compulsory military service (I think Israel even requires its women to serve). How do they deal with this issue? Edit: wikipedia table of mandatory service countries: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compul...s_with_and_without_mandatory_military_service
Must have done it part time and got it over with before moving to Europe. http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/5598/Benayoun-Yossi-1980.html
Son training with the ball again (not fully involved with the team workout yet): http://www.hsv.de/teams/meldungen/bundesliga/september-2010/son-wieder-am-ball/ Also, check out the last five picutes here.
AHA. Van Nistelrooy, what a character. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbYar-aoA64&feature=related"]YouTube - Ruud van Nistelrooy celebration vs Andorra[/ame] Hopefully Son is two or three weeks out from coming back to full training maybe sooner? I hope his injury didn't curb his enthusiasm for the game and I hope he skips the Japan match.
Apparently a Korean TV team were filming yesterdays training session. When Ruud spotted his protegé afterwards and went to greet him, he was asked by the visiting reporters for a short interview and gave it, with Son acting as his interpreter.