Head coach Cho Kwang-rae has announced his first squad for the upcoming friendly against Nigeria on the 11th.
Of the 13 abroad players called, Lee Chung-yong of Bolton will be the only one to miss out on the match.
Cho has included 13 players from the World Cup squad in his 25-man squad. Familiar faces from the World Cup squad include captain Park Ji-sung, Ki Sung-yong, Lee Young-pyo, Lee Jung-soo and Kim Bo-kyung. Kwak Tae-hwi and Lee Keun-ho, who both didn’t make the World Cup squad have also returned. Other returnees to the national team include Hwang Jae-won, Baek Ji-hoon and Choi Hyo-jin.
It appears Cho Kwang-rae has given an opportunity to several young Japan-based stars, Cho Young-cheol (21), Kim Min-woo (20), Kim Young-gwon (20) and Park Joo-ho (23), to impress him in the upcoming game. Defender Hong Jeong-ho (20), who partnered Kim Young-gwon in Korea’s impressive 2009 U20 WC campaign, will also look to earn his first cap. Among all these uncapped players, the most eye-catching names are Yoon Bit-garam (20) and Ji Dong-won (19), the two favorites this year for the K-League Rookie of the Year award.
Team for Nigeria friendly
GK: Lee Woon-jae (Suwon), Kim Young-kwang (Ulsan), Jung Sung-ryong (Seongnam)
DF: Cho Yong-hyung (Jeju), Kwak Tae-hwi (Kyoto/JPN), Lee Jung-soo (Al-Sadd/QAT), Kim Young-gwon (Tokyo/JPN), Hong Jeong-ho (Jeju), Hwang Jae-won (Suwon), Lee Young-pyo (Al-Hilal/KSA), Choi Hyo-jin (Seoul), Kim Min-woo (Sagan Tosu/JPN), Park Joo-ho (Iwata/JPN)
MF: Ki Sung-yong (Celtic/SCO), Baek Ji-hoon (Suwon), Kim Jae-sung (Pohang), Kim Bo-kyung (Oita/JPN), Park Ji-sung (Man Utd/ENG), Yoon Bit-garam (Gyeongnam), Cho Young-cheol (Niigata/JPN)
FW: Lee Keun-ho (Gamba Osaka/JPN), Lee Seung-ryul (Seoul), Park Chu-young (Monaco/FRA), Yeom Ki-hun (Suwon), Ji Dong-won (Jeonnam)
no chung yong i see
Cho Kwang-rae wanted Lee Chung-yong, but he has opted to stay at Bolton. We will most likely see him in the next squad.
Where is Yoo Byung-Soo? The best goalscorer in K-league so far. Lee Seung-ryul is way to overated. If you look at the forwards, almost non of them are natural goalscorers, thats why Yoo is needed. Or is there something I don’t know about Yoo? Is he a troublemaker of some kind?
There are couple of things that I see s. Korea still needs to work on in order to be successful for the next wc.
1. They need a stronger/taller striker next to pjy. None of those players mentioned above compliment him well enough. They need to convince Jong tae se to join the south although that may be farfetched but definitely not impossible.(although that may severe the relationship between the two countries even more)
2. Plug those damn holes on defense. Hire a foreign defensive coach to improve and develope backs in Korea.
Why isn’t son heung min or suk hyun jun on the roster? Are they too young?
Yoo Byung-Soo has a reputation for being a bit of a hot-head from time to time but nothing worse than Kim Jin-Kyu for sure. His physicality, pace, and abilities I think would benefit the national team but perhaps the coach doesn’t think so…