The Paju National Training Center is a place that is firmly closed to the outside, but it was not the 25th when the Korean men’s national soccer team under the age of 20 was convened.
Parents of some of the players, along with agents, visited the stadium. They watched a practice match against Incheon United at Baekho Stadium. A sudden cold wind blew and in the second half, even the raindrops became thick, but he did not care and kept his eyes on the player he was watching.
This convocation is the last time Kim Eun-joong gathered ahead of the 2023 FIFA Argentina Under-20 World Cup to be held next month. At the end of this call, the national team will announce the final roster to participate in the World Cup and leave for Argentina, the final match.
Like the 2022 Qatar World Cup held in November last year, the outline of the national team is revealed. Manager Kim Eun-joong and the under-20 squad played the Asian Cup last February and made it to the semifinals. It is certain that players who participated in the Asian Cup will play a key role in the World Cup as well.
Therefore, the nature of this call was different from usual. Since the league is in progress, players who have not been called up to the national team are mainly called together with players who have responded to the selection from their team. The players who were called up to the national team for the first time were the ones coach Kim Eun-joong and the coaching staff constantly observed.
However, they did not have much time. The schedule for the national team convened this time is a practice match against Incheon United on this day and a practice match against Incheon University the next day. Because of the situation where everyone had to watch as much as possible for two days and the schedule to play two games in two days, coach Kim played the game with different squads for the first and second half.
Competition for tickets to Argentina was fierce. Realistically, I didn’t have a high level of understanding tactically, but I tried to show my best performance in the position I was familiar with. The hearts of the agents and parents who watched them were as earnest as the players.
In the match, the Korean national team defeated Incheon United 2-1. Lee Seon-ho (Daejeon) and Park Seung-ho (Incheon) scored goals in turn.스포츠토토
After the game, coach Kim said, “There were a lot of players who were not physically ready. There were players who were difficult to even run. One or two,” he replied.
As a result of the group draw held in Switzerland on the 21st, Korea was in Group F with France (Europe), Honduras (North and Central America), and Gambia (Africa).
The tournament was supposed to be held in Indonesia, but FIFA revoked Indonesia’s host country status because of political and religious controversies.
It was the first convocation after the group draw, but since the league was in progress, this national team was organized with players who the club cooperated with or who were selected for the first time.
The national team, which played against Incheon United that day, will play a second practice match against Incheon University on the 26th before finalizing the final list.
He is scheduled to leave for Argentina on the 7th of next month, and will play the first group match against France on May 23rd (Tuesday).