- Entry confirmed for World Cup - Date: May 12, 2006
On his return Thursday (May 11) from Europe, Dick Advocaat, Korea's national football team coach, announced the names of the 23 players he has selected to take the field and represent South Korea in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
No real surprises emerged, but it was notable that Cha Du-ri of Germany's Endtracht Frankfurt failed to make Advocaat's list.
"Some people can have a different list, it's no problem," Advocaat said. "But we know what we're doing very well."
At a press conference held at the Grand Hilton in Seoul, reporters asked the coach what advantages and disadvantages the team had.
"This time we have to play away games but we've already proved (during the overseas training period) that we can win out there, too" Advocaat said. "We have experienced players with us. Some play in England, some play in Germany, and on that level they know what to expect in the competition."
The roster varied little from what had been largely expected. All the players on the list had at one time or another held spots on the national team. Most of the 2002 World Cup team members were picked up again, taking 10 spots on the list.
Goalkeeper and team captain Lee Woon-jae was selected to participate in his third World Cup competition, following appearances in 1994 and 2002. Song Chong-gug, a 2002 World Cup member, who has struggled on the pitch recently, received another shot and chance to lift his career.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was Advocaat's decision to put three goalkeepers' on his list, He included Seongnam Chunma's Kim Yong-dae. Kim has been in 15 national team matches but has not distinguished himself the way Lee has.
Five other players ?goalkeeper Kim Byung-ji, defender You Kyoung-youl, midfielders Kim Jung-woo and Jang Hak-young along with Cha were named to the stand-by squad, who will replace anyone who suffers serious injury.
Advocaat spoke of what will happen before the team leaves for Europe later this month. "We will check the players' physical condition. That's important. Most of all, I will work on giving a balance (of offense and defense) to the squad so when they lose a ball they can fight back as quickly as possible, moving forward and backward," he said.
The team members will go to the National Football Center in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on Sunday. Foreign-based players Ahn Jung-hwan of Germany's Duisburg and Lee Eul-yong of Turkey's Trabzonspor will join the team later with Chonbuk's Choi Jin-cheul, who is facing an AFC Champions League match next Wednesday.
The squad will start training before departing for Scotland for the final training session on May 27. Before that the squad will have two friendlies with Senegal on the 23rd and Bosnia-Herzegovina three days later.
Korean Squad
- Headcoach : Dick Advocaat
- Assistant coach : Pim Verbeeka
- Assistant coach : Afshin Ghotbi
- Assitant coach : Hong Myung-Bo
- GK coach : Chung Gi-Dong
- Goalkeepers
- Lee Woon-jae (Suwon BlueWings)
- Kim Youngkwang (Chunnam Dragons)
- Kim Yong-dae (Seongnam Chunma)
- Defenders
- Lee Young-pyo (Tottenham Hotspur)
- Kim Sang-sik (Seongnam)
- Cho Won-hee (Suwon)
- Kim Young-chul (Seongnam)
- Choi Jin-cheul (Chonbuk Motors)
- Kim Dong-jin (FC Seoul)
- Song Chong-gug (Suwon)
- Kim Jin-kyu (Jubilo Iwata)
- Midfielders
- Park Ji-sung (Manchester Utd.)
- Kim Nam-il (Suwon)
- Lee Ho (Ulsan Tigers)
- Baek Ji-hoon (Seoul)
- Lee Eul-yong (Trabzonspor)
- Kim Do-heon (Seongnam)
- Forwards
- Cho Jae-jin (Shimizu SPulse)
- Lee Chun-soo (Ulsan)
- Park Chu-young (Seoul)
- Seol Ki-hyeon (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
- Ahn Jung-hwan (MSV Duisburg)
- Chung Kyung-ho (Gwangju Sangmu)
Source : Korea.net mailing Service, May 2006
