Roster rifts, police raids and Son’s uncertain future leave South Korea at a crossroads

After a disaster World Cup, the team have continued to spiral, with tensions high between young and older players and the captain’s standing in question Son Heung-min and Cristiano Ronaldo are iconic No 7s, Premier League legends and international record-breakers.

Now there is a surprising danger of them having something else in common: being a divisive presence in their national teams. On 21 October, during a parliamentary committee meeting, politician Jeong Yeon-wook put a question to acting Korea Football Association (KFA) president Lee Yong-soo, that took a story out of the sports pages and into the national conversation. “It is said that recently, within the national team squad, players have been calling him not by his…