Son Heung-min couldn’t play, and Kim Min-jae kicked the captain’s armband. It’s only been a year.
All members of the national team agreed to give Kim Min-jae the captaincy. After Son Heung-min, Kim Min-jae has been selected as the next captain to represent the team.
The South Korean national soccer team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, will play the third Group B match against Jordan in the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 FIFA North-China U.S. World Cup (co-hosted by Canada, the U.S., and Mexico) at Amman International Stadium in Jordan’s capital Amman on the 10th.
Kim Min-jae will wear the captain’s armband in place of Son Heung-min, who was excluded from the call-up due to an injury while playing for his team Tottenham Hotspur. Kim Min-jae, who was mentioned as a strong candidate to be Hong Myung-bo’s captain for two consecutive A matches in October along with Lee Jae-sung and Hwang In-beom, was selected as the captain for the first time in a year since the match against Tunisia in October last year when Son Heung-min was not able to play due to injury.
Coach Hong Myung-bo, who met with reporters before training on the 8th, said, “I decided to leave the captaincy to Kim Min-jae at the convocation.”
Coach Hong said, “I selected Kim Min-jae as the captain because he is in a position where he can control the overall situation of the game and even coach while watching the flow of the game. We also considered the influence of the team and the fact that many new young players have joined the national team,” and explained, “Overall, the opinion was that Kim Min-jae should be the captain and set Kim Min-jae as the captain today.”
Kim Min-jae is the right person to play the role now that there is no Son Heung-min to center the national team.
As Coach Hong Myung-bo explained, Kim Min-jae is one of the most influential players in the Korean national team after Son. With ample experience in 65 national team matches, Kim can manage the team both inside and outside the stadium.
Of course, there is an option of Lee Jae-sung, who is the same age as Son Heung-min, or Hwang In-beom, the core of the national team, just like Kim Min-jae, but Hong Myung-bo seems to have appointed Kim Min-jae as the captain’s armband in consideration of more diverse aspects, as he explained. The reason was so clear that all members of the national team agreed.
Coach Hong Myung-bo’s selection of Kim Min-jae as the captain ahead of the two consecutive games is unlikely to be a choice that only looked at the two games. 메이저사이트
Since Kim Min-jae is old enough to play for the national team not only for the 2026 World Cup in North Korea and the U.S., which Hong Myung-bo is currently preparing for, but also for the next World Cup, there is ample room for him to be elected as the next captain of the national team after Son Heung-min. This is all the more true considering the influence Kim Min-jae has shown both inside and outside the stadium.
It is not easy to imagine Son Heung-min, the longest-serving national team captain, putting down his captain’s armband, but it will happen someday. It may be burdensome, but someone should wear the captain’s armband after Son Heung-min.
Through these two consecutive games, Kim Min-jae will be tested to prove whether he is the next captain or not. Kim Min-jae has to show leadership both inside and outside the stadium.