Dubai: Korea Republic’s AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 title hopes received a setback on Sunday when influential midfielder Ki Sung-yueng was ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a hamstring injury.



The experienced 29-year-old suffered the initial damage during his country’s Matchday One defeat of the Philippines, a game which saw him taken off shortly before the hour mark.

Ki, who plays his club football in England with Newcastle United, then subsequently failed to feature for the Taeguk Warriors against both Kyrgyz Republic and China PR, although he had returned to full training as recently as Friday.

Korea Republic are set to play Bahrain in a Round of 16 encounter in Dubai on Tuesday.



Source: the-afc.com