A highly anticipated showdown between Son Heung-min and Mohamed Salah, the Premier League's joint top goal scorers, will not materialize in Seoul after all.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) announced Saturday that Salah, the Egyptian star for Liverpool, will not travel to South Korea next Tuesday for a friendly match against South Korea due to an unspecified injury. The KFA said it had received word from its Egyptian counterpart earlier Saturday.
Salah won't get to face the South Korean captain Son, who shared the Golden Boot this past season with Salah by scoring 23 goals for Tottenham Hotspur.
The two have never faced each other internationally.
Salah had also sat out Egypt's stunning 2-0 loss to lowly Ethiopia on Thursday in 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying.
South Korea will host Egypt at Seoul World Cup Stadium at 8 p.m. Tuesday for their fourth and final friendly match of June, all scheduled in preparation for the FIFA World Cup. This will be the two countries' 18th meeting, and first since 2005.
South Korea lost to Brazil 5-1 on June 2 and then beat Chile 2-0 four days later. They battled back for a 2-2 draw against Paraguay on Friday after conceding two goals first.
Son has scored in each of the past two matches, both on free kicks.
Source: Yonhap News Agency