ABU DHABI, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- South Korea must beat China to take the top spot of Group C despite the star Son Heung-min's condition, said the head coach Paulo Bento on Tuesday.
Son, who played in 12 games for Tottenham Hotspur in just over a month, arrived at the Asian Cup on Monday afternoon, hours after he suffered a 1-0 home defeat against Manchester United in the Premier League.
"Son is a very important player for our team, we know he played a lot of games in the last month," said Bento. "We will check out his condition after today's training then decide whether he can play or not."
"Whether Son would play or not tomorrow, we must keep the same strategy, mentality and determination like we did in the last two matches. Any changes that I make to the start-list will not be because we need to resting players but for our strategy," the former Portugal coach said.
South Korea and China are level on six points in Group C as China is on top of the group with better goal differences, which means South Korea can only earn the top spot with a victory.
"China is a very good team with a very good coach who knows Asian football very well. They only need a draw to top the group, so we have to attack from the first minute and to take more risk," added Bento.
South Korea, who finished runner-up to host Australia four years ago, has built a unbeaten run since Bento took over in last August.
