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Bayern Munich's Minjae Kim needs treatment during the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first-leg soccer match between Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen at Allianz Arena. Tom Weller/dpa
South Korea coach Hong Myung-bo has hit out at German Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich for not protecting defender Kim Min-jae.
Centre back Kim will miss World Cup qualifiers against Oman on Thursday and Jordan five days later with Achilles tendinitis.
Bayern said last week that Kim would be out for a while. They hope to have him back for the Champions League quarter-final tie against Inter Milan on April 8 and 16. He was originally part of South Korea's squad but dropped on Saturday to give him rest.
The Yonhap news agency quoted coach Hong as saying before Monday's training session that Bayern let Kim play through persistent pain although there had been "warning signs" since last year regarding the injury.
"Unfortunately, Bayern Munich did not properly protect the player to prevent injury," Hong said. "So we've ended up in a situation where we have to play these important matches without a key player."
"Just because we have important matches coming up, we couldn't keep Kim Min-jae around for them because it would run counter to our principles of protecting players. So we've made the decision to rest him."
South Korea can qualify for the World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada if they win both matches.
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