Black Stars head coach Otto Addo has revealed a little-known chapter of his coaching career, sharing how communication barriers once limited South Korean superstar Son Heung-min’s early progress at Hamburger SV.

Speaking ahead of Ghana’s friendly against South Korea in Seoul on November 18, Addo admitted he felt compelled to apologise to Son for the challenges they faced during his time as assistant coach in Germany.
“At the time, he couldn’t speak English and I couldn’t speak Korean,” Addo explained via the GFA. “I had to ask Cha Du-ri, my former teammate at Mainz, to translate my instructions. The first few days were really difficult.”

Addo acknowledged that the language gap even affected Son’s playing time in Hamburg:
“I want to apologise to Son because he didn’t play much early on. I wasn’t able to explain the tactics properly, and it affected him.”

Despite those early hurdles, Son flourished at Hamburg, later moving to Bayer Leverkusen and establishing himself as one of Asia’s finest attacking talents before becoming a Premier League icon at Tottenham Hotspur.

Addo spoke with pride about Son’s growth but warned of the danger he poses in Tuesday’s fixture, especially from set pieces.

“We know how strong South Korea are. They have great defenders and a strong front line. We must avoid giving away set pieces because Son’s free-kick ability is exceptional. His skills make him very hard to contain.”

The match caps the international year for both nations, with Ghana seeking to bounce back from a 2-0 defeat to Japan and South Korea buoyed by Son’s brilliant free-kick goal in their 2-0 win over Bolivia.