Son Heung-min (30), the 'ace of Korean football' facing an unexpected injury just a month before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, seems to have to rest for at least four weeks.
Heung-min Son's team, Tottenham Hotspur, announced on the 3rd (Korea time) that Son Heung-min suffered a fracture in his left eye during the UEFA Champions League group stage match against Marseille (France).
It is not known how long the rehabilitation period will be after the operation, but according to the domestic medical community, it is a situation that requires at least a month of rest, so it seems inevitable that a major setback in preparations for the World Cup finals of the soccer team led by coach Paulo Bento is inevitable.
Professor Hong Jong-won of the plastic surgery department at Yonsei University Severance Hospital said in a phone call with Yonhap News on the 3rd, "Heung-min Son seems to have suffered an orbital fracture or a facial bone fracture. In any case, the diagnosis will be over 4 weeks."
According to Professor Hong, first of all, the recovery period depends on exactly where Heung-Min Son's injury is medically.
In an official statement, Tottenham referred to Heung-Min Son's injury site as 'the bone around the left eye'.
Currently, the domestic media translates this as 'orbital fracture', and some foreign media express Son's injury as 'facial fracture'.
Professor Hong said, "Facial fracture is a concept that includes both orbital fractures and facial bone fractures." If only the bone under the eye is broken, it takes 4 to 6 weeks to recover from an orbital fracture. Diagnosis comes in six to eight weeks," he said.
Facial bone fractures are more burdensome than orbital fractures from the patient's point of view as they have to undergo surgery to fix the broken bones by inserting a metal plate into the mouth.
No matter what bone is broken, even if Son Heung-min receives surgery today, he must rest until December 1st at least.
The first group match against Uruguay will be played on November 24, and the second leg against Ghana will be played on November 28.
The final match against Portugal will be held on December 3rd.
If it is an orbital fracture, you can only return after the second game, and if it is a fracture of the facial bone, you may not be able to play on the World Cup ground at all.
Considering the health of 'human Son Heung-min', even this is unreasonable.
Professor Hong said, "The time it takes for recovery to be mentioned above simply means the time it takes for the bones to attach.
He continued, "The area where Son Heung-min was injured is where the general public also gets injured while playing soccer," he said. If you have a facial bone fracture, you should only eat porridge for a while."
In soccer, players with fractures in the facial region have not been able to do their part in the real world.
Kim Tae-young, former coach of the Cheonan City Football Team, suffered a nose fracture during the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup and wore the face shield that became famous as the 'Tiger Mask' during the match.
Last year, the Belgian national team and Manchester City (Man City, England) ace Kevin De Bruyne performed brilliantly even with facial injuries.
De Bruyne suffered nasal and orbital fractures in the UEFA Champions League final held by his team at the time, but 18 days later, as a member of the Belgian national team, De Bruyne appeared as a substitute in the second round of the Euro 2020 group stage.
After that, he played the tournament and contributed to Belgium's progress to the quarterfinals.
At the time, The Bruyne performed the competition without wearing any protective equipment such as a mask.
However, Professor Hong said, "In terms of baseball, for Son Heung-min to participate in the World Cup, it is like asking Hyun-jin Ryu (Toronto Blue Jays) to throw the ball as soon as he takes off a cast for a month," said Professor Hong. "Heung-min Son's injury as a fan It's very unfortunate, but it's my position as a doctor that I shouldn't even enter the World Cup as a candidate."
(Photo = Getty Images Korea)