Was Son Heung-min benched over media boycott? Whistleblower claims squad rift cost Korea at World Cup.

• ·Jin Jong-oh claims a dispute over a player-led move to not speak with the media influenced Hong Myung-bo’s decision to start the veterans on the bench in Korea’s pivotal World Cup loss to South Africa.
• ·Jin Jong-oh, a former Olympic gold medalist sport shooter-turned-National Assembly lawmaker, alleged Wednesday that former manager Hong Myung-bo dropped star players Son Heung-min and Lee Jae-sung for the national team's decisive World Cup group stage defeat to South Africa because of a dispute over a player-led media boycott.
• ·Jin, a member of the People Power Party and the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, said he had received information from multiple unnamed sources connected to the team.
• ·The allegations come days after he launched a whistleblower center to collect reports of alleged corruption and opaque administration at the Korea Football Association (KFA).
• ·According to Jin, the dispute centered on whether players should continue boycotting media interviews after several journalists were inadvertently recorded mocking Son's military service exemption during training in Guadalajara, Mexico, on June 7.

"손흥민·이재성 남아공전 빠진 이유?"…대표팀 불화설 확산