Tottenham star Son Heung-min and his South Korea team-mates to face Wales in September friendly
SON HEUNG-MIN’S South Korea will face Wales in a September friendly.
The Tottenham forward and captain of his country, 30, faces the Dragons at the Cardiff City Stadium.
The September 7 clash is the first meeting between the countries at senior men’s level.
Ex-Spurs forward Jurgen Klinsmann was appointed Son’s national team manager in February, just months after South Korea reached the last 16 of the World Cup in Qatar.
The friendly is four days before Wales travel to Latvia in a Euro 2024 qualifier.
Football Association of Wales chief executive Noel Mooney said: “Many teams are tied up in Europe with qualifiers and it’s not always easy to get strong opposition during the few occasions we get the chance to play friendlies.
“So to have the likes of Son Heung-min – Ben Davies’ teammate at Spurs – and many other high quality players coming to Cardiff is great for us.
“They had a really good World Cup getting to the knockout stage and it’s important we keep testing ourselves against different styles of football.
“South Korea offers us a really interesting chance to do that, and I’m sure we’ll have another great crowd to cheer on Cymru before the ‘Red Wall’ head for Riga a few days later.”
Wales manager Rob Page announces his squad on Tuesday for next month’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Armenia and Turkey and Aaron Ramsey is confident he will be fit to lead his country.
The Dragons captain, 32, has not played for club side Nice since May 6 after sustaining calf fatigue.
Ramsey missed Saturday’s Ligue 1 clash with Montpellier – the third successive league game the ex-Arsenal midfielder has sat out.
But SunSport understands Ramsey will be named in Page’s squad for the Group D double-header in June.
Nice coach Didier Digard said this week he will take no risks over Ramsey’s fitness with the former Juventus ace having a history of injury problems.
Despite that long running battle with injuries, Ramsey, who replaced the retired Gareth Bale as Wales captain in March, has managed to play 39 times for club and country this season.
But Digard’s cautious approach could see Rambo, who was pictured with F1 drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell at the Monaco GP last Thursday, not even feature against Lyon in Nice’s final league match of the season on June 3.
Wales head to Portugal for a warm weather training camp on June 8 to prepare for the home clash with Armenia on June 16.
Then Page’s side, who collected four points from their opening two qualifiers in March, travel to Turkey three days later.
Bournemouth winger David Brooks will return for the first time since his successful battle with cancer.
And Wales will check on Nottingham Forest defender Neco Williams after he broke his jaw in April.