Korea's World Cup Roster Announced
Korean national team coach Dick Advocaat announced his 23 man roster yesterday and it looks pretty damn good! There is a lot of youth on this year's squad however, and their inexperience may be a liability, but there are also a few veterans that will hopefully influence the young'uns. Surprisingly, striker Cha Du Ri (his father was one of Korea's best players) didn't make the squad. He was on the 2002 roster and has blazing speed. But he's only an alternate this time around. Also, striker Lee Dong Kook didn't make the squad because of his recent ACL injury. 20 year old Park Joo Yeong has lots of potential and could be Korea's next big soccer star. It'll be interesting to see if Advocaat's preference for the 4-3-3 formation will pay off. I believe Coach Hiddink utilized a 4-4-2 at the 2002 World Cup. Here's the complete roster:
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)
Goalkeepers
Lee Woon-jae (Suwon BlueWings)
Kim Youngkwang (Chunnam Dragons)
Kim Yong-dae (Seongnam Chunma)
DefendersLee 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)
MidfieldersPark Ji-sung (Manchester Utd.)
Kim Nam-il (Suwon)
Lee Ho (Ulsan Tigers)
Baek Ji-hoon (Seoul)
Lee Eul-yong (Trabzonspor)
Kim Do-heon (Seongnam)
ForwardsCho 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)
posted by Myong Choi at 8:53 AM
5 Comments:
Heh, and looks like all of Korea's rallying for this one, with all the "World Cup" ads I've seen thus far on KBS (ch. 80, Oceanic digital). I ain't fluent in Korean, but, I coulda' sworn I saw a few "come down to the KBS studios, we'll teach you how to cheer [and even put face paint and make signs? Am I surmising that right?] at the tourney!" commercials. Man, soccer's so big there.
If you don't mind me saying -- the Korean team better do good to win this one, having been, uh FACED at that World Baseball Championship, heh.
Good luck to 'em. Would be neat to see S. Korea champion in a sport other than, uh, ice speedskating. And, even then I have comments about that . . . which I'll save.
Yeah, good hunting, S. Korea. Though, I just gotta say . . . you know what I gotta say.
U
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U.S.A.! U.S.A.! :)
If by "faced" you mean losing to Japan in the WBC, don't forget that Korea took 2 out of 3 from Japan in that tournament. I'd put my money on Korea in a 7 game series against Japan at anytime.
And Korea has excelled in other sports besides short track. They have won gold medals and/or world championships in archery (which they dominate as much as short track), judo, wrestling, taekwondo, fencing, handball, table tennis, badminton, and marathon, not to mention what arguably should have been a gold medal in Athens for the men's all around gymnastics title. Don't forget the plethora of Korean golf champions on the LPGA tour as well as KJ Choi on the PGA. Not too bad for a small country of only 48 million (approximately 1/3 of Japan's).
And while I agree that they need to do well in Germany to prove that 2002 wasn't a fluke, to end up one of the top 4 teams in the world in the world's most popular sport is indeed an amazing accomplishment that can't be taken away.
Don't get me wrong though. I'm not anti-Japan at all. I just view them as healthy rivals that I can good naturedly root against since the 2 countries have so much history. Plus, it gives me an excuse to make bets with Wayne's World in world sporting events.
Besides, it's nice that Japan can give the Koreans some competition once in a while. It keeps us on our toes! Especially when you have idiotic comments like the ones Ichiro made to further fuel the fires. Geez, that was a really fast 30 years, wasn't it Ichiro?
Did you see Nike's Joga Bonito ad "Fistful of Goals"? Ji Sung Park has about 1.5 seconds of 2 still photos in the spot, but is not shown scoring a goal. Still it's worth noting, since the ads feature mainly Ronaldinho, Brazil, Wayne Rooney, Thierry Henry, Brazil, Ronaldinho, C. Ronaldo, Zlatan, Ronaldinho, and Brazil (in that order).
Damn, they do love Ronaldinho, don't they? Gotta see that commercial.
Too bad for England that Rooney got hurt in the championship game of the Premier League. That's a big loss.
Actually he got hurt in a game vs Chelsea, when Chelsea won 4-0 and clinched the league title. If they won this and the last game, MU could only hope to finish the season tied in points and had a large goal difference to make up against Chelsea. The injury was late in the game, which was pretty much over, but shows how much of a fighter he is.
In my mind, Eric Cantona is the star of these ads and the biggest personality here. Park is in good company.
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