As first squads go, it is an important one. New national team coach Huh Jung-moo has no room for error as he prepares to guide South Korea along the road to the 2010 World Cup – starting against Turkmenistan on Seoul on February 6.
That will be the first of what will hopefully be 14 World Cup qualifiers and, while the Turkmen shouldn’t be underestimated – the team is physically strong with a number of players plying their trade in the Russian and Ukrainian leagues – it is as comfortable an opener as Huh could have wished for after being appointed to the position in December.
There were a few surprises in the 26-strong squad that the former Chunnam Dragons coach named on a freezing Thursday morning in Seoul but there was never any chance of the three eligible English Premier Leaguers – Manchester United’s Park Ji-sung, Lee Young-pyo of Tottenham and Fulham’s Seol Ki-hyeon - not being summoned.
The trio will not play in a fairly low-key friendly game against Chile on January 30 but they will be back in the Land of the Morning Calm fairly soon after. Huh is looking to build his team, and his likely 3-5-2 formation - a change from Pim Verbeek’s preferred 4-3-3 - around the lively Park.
“There will be a lot of new faces in the national team, and we believe that the experience and skills of the foreign-based players will offer a great help for the younger players,'' he said. ``The players in Europe have already proven their abilities.''
Lee Dong-guk is the fourth Premier League star but is still suffering from the effects of two late-night drinking sessions that took place during the Asian Cup in Jakarta last July -not even soju creates such a hangover. The Middlesbrough striker and his three booze buddies, Lee Woon-jae, Kim Sang-sik and Woo Sung-young have been banned from national team duty until the end of the year.
The Lion King has enough on his mind as he tries to save his Middlesbrough career that has yet to produce a league goal. Striking rival Cho Jae-jin is also in England, trying to engineer a move into the world’s most popular and most lucrative league.
Spare a thought for the muscular marksman whose moody modeling expressions may soon become a permanent feature. This was supposed to be his time. His three, very successful years, in Japan came to an end in December. A free agent and available on a free transfer, surely one of Korea’s top strikers wouldn’t be short of offers?
There was interest. Cho, 26, went to Newcastle United for a trial and was reportedly on the verge of being offered a deal just as coach Sam Allardyce was fired by the club‘s owner after a run of mediocre performances. His north-eastern hopes dashed, Cho headed to the south coast and Portsmouth just as that club’s boss, Harry Redknapp, was being courted by Newcastle to become their new coach.According to reports in Korea, Cho was left dangling as Redknapp never saw the player as he took a couple of days to think over Newcastle’s offer before. Cho came back to Korea but was then soon scuttling westwards again for a final throw of the dice at Premier League strugglers Fulham. Despite encouraging words from Roy Hodgson, that deal too, looks to have hit a brick wall.
Whatever happens, Cho and anybody else who doesn’t currently have a club, will not be selected by Huh. Midfielder Kim Jung-woo provides another example of that. Ahn Jung-hwan was also excluded but has since joined Busan IPark.
Huh decided to choose four strikers –two of which, Park Chu-young and Jung Jo-gook, barely managed to find the net for goal-shy FC Seoul last season and while Huh knows that such an affliction is hardly contained to the capital, he is sure that, with time, goals will be in plentiful supply.
“We can’t solve the goalscoring problems overnight, it has been a long-standing problem," he admitted. "For a short time, it will be hard to improve but as the players have promised to cooperate, we can overcome this problem. Through repeated training and set piece plays, we aim to improve our goalscoring abilities.”
We will soon see.
South Korea squad:
GK--Kim Byung-ji (FC Seoul) Jung Sung-ryong (Pohang) Yeom Dong-gyun ( Chunnam)
DF--Kwak Tae-hwi (Chunnam) Kwak Hee-ju (Suwon) Hwang Jae-won, Jo Sung-hwan ( both Pohang) Jo Yong-hyung (Seongnam) Kang Min-soo (Jeonbuk) Jo Won-hee (Suwon) Kim Chi-woo (Jeonnam) Lee Young-pyo (Tottenham, England) Park Won-jae (Pohang)
MF--Lee Jong-min (Ulsan) Kim Nam-il (Vissel Kobe) Kim Du-hyeon (Seongnam) Yeom Ki-hoon (Ulsan) Park Ji-sung (Manchester Utd, England) Lee Dong-sik (Jeju) Lee Kwan-woo (Suwon) Hwang Ji-soo (Pohang) Koo Ja-cheol (Jeju)
FW--Seol Ki-hyeon (Fulham, England) Jung Jo-guk (FC Seoul) Jo Jin-soo (Jeju ) Park Ju-young (FC Seoul)
Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile.com
Bet with Bet 365
World Soccer News
Soccer betting tips
Soccer Books & DVDs
Tags
Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting
|
|---|
Showing posts with label Cho Jae-jin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cho Jae-jin. Show all posts
Friday, January 25, 2008
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Korean Exodus To England Set To Continue
For some time now, England’s Premier League has been regarded as football’s Promised Land for those in the K-league and the exodus westwards shows little sign of letting up during January’s transfer window – the last opportunity for clubs to buy and sell players until the end of the season.
At the end of 2007, all four English Taeguk Warriors were active in the league –finally. On the day after Christmas, bumper holiday crowds witnessed the unusual sight of the entire quartet clocking up minutes on the pitch - Park Ji-sung returned from a nine-month injury lay-off for Manchester United, Lee Dong-guk tried to score his first goal for Middlesbrough, Seol Ki-hyeon made a rare start for Fulham and Lee Young-pyo completed another 90 minutes in Tottenham’s colours.
The fluctuating fortunes of Korea’s fantastic four haven’t deterred eager compatriots from trying to join them in the world’s richest league. Cho Jae-jin looks likely to make it a famous five. The Little Emperor has long desired to move from Japan to England. After three successful years with Shimizu S-Pulse, the muscular striker is a free agent and England-bound.
The process hasn’t been entirely smooth. Cho’s agent told reporters that four English clubs had expressed serious interest. Newcastle United was top of Cho’s list but after the Korean media had declared that the deal was done, the troubled Tyneside team told the English press that: "The club has had discussions with the player and his representatives, but has decided not to proceed any further."
Cho moved from the north-east to the south coast and started talking to Portsmouth at the end of last week. The 26 year-old could provide valuable cover for the club which will lose a number of players in January to the African Nations’ Cup.
Seongnam’s Kim Do-heon could also be on his way to the Premier League to join Derby County or West Bromich Albion of the championship. The championship is England’s second tier but WBA is in with a great chance of winning promotion to the Premier League in time for the start of next season. The club’s coach Tony Mowbray is still unsure whether he will sign the midfielder but at least he is getting first hand experience of dealing with Korean agents.
"The agent is trying to get across that Kim is a big star in Korea,” Mowbray told his local newspaper. “There are thousands of people at his wedding, it's front page news over there so he's sent me the pictures to make sure I'm aware of it.
"What they don't always do is work out the time difference very well…I was trying to deal with somebody who is living in Korea and phoning me at strange times.”
Strange times indeed and it is not just senior international player that have been heading west to show what they can do. Captain of the Under-17 team, Yoon Bitgaram had a trial with Premier League club Blackburn Rovers and could become part of the team’s youth program. This will involve a stint in Belgium with Blackburn’s ‘feeder club’ Cercle Brugge.
And all that’s within the first week of the window and while nobody has squeezed through just yet, it is only a matter of time. It will be a busy month.
Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile
Bet with Bet 365
World Soccer News
Soccer betting tips
Soccer Books & DVDs
Tags
Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting
At the end of 2007, all four English Taeguk Warriors were active in the league –finally. On the day after Christmas, bumper holiday crowds witnessed the unusual sight of the entire quartet clocking up minutes on the pitch - Park Ji-sung returned from a nine-month injury lay-off for Manchester United, Lee Dong-guk tried to score his first goal for Middlesbrough, Seol Ki-hyeon made a rare start for Fulham and Lee Young-pyo completed another 90 minutes in Tottenham’s colours.
The fluctuating fortunes of Korea’s fantastic four haven’t deterred eager compatriots from trying to join them in the world’s richest league. Cho Jae-jin looks likely to make it a famous five. The Little Emperor has long desired to move from Japan to England. After three successful years with Shimizu S-Pulse, the muscular striker is a free agent and England-bound.
The process hasn’t been entirely smooth. Cho’s agent told reporters that four English clubs had expressed serious interest. Newcastle United was top of Cho’s list but after the Korean media had declared that the deal was done, the troubled Tyneside team told the English press that: "The club has had discussions with the player and his representatives, but has decided not to proceed any further."
Cho moved from the north-east to the south coast and started talking to Portsmouth at the end of last week. The 26 year-old could provide valuable cover for the club which will lose a number of players in January to the African Nations’ Cup.
Seongnam’s Kim Do-heon could also be on his way to the Premier League to join Derby County or West Bromich Albion of the championship. The championship is England’s second tier but WBA is in with a great chance of winning promotion to the Premier League in time for the start of next season. The club’s coach Tony Mowbray is still unsure whether he will sign the midfielder but at least he is getting first hand experience of dealing with Korean agents.
"The agent is trying to get across that Kim is a big star in Korea,” Mowbray told his local newspaper. “There are thousands of people at his wedding, it's front page news over there so he's sent me the pictures to make sure I'm aware of it.
"What they don't always do is work out the time difference very well…I was trying to deal with somebody who is living in Korea and phoning me at strange times.”
Strange times indeed and it is not just senior international player that have been heading west to show what they can do. Captain of the Under-17 team, Yoon Bitgaram had a trial with Premier League club Blackburn Rovers and could become part of the team’s youth program. This will involve a stint in Belgium with Blackburn’s ‘feeder club’ Cercle Brugge.
And all that’s within the first week of the window and while nobody has squeezed through just yet, it is only a matter of time. It will be a busy month.
Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile
Bet with Bet 365
World Soccer News
Soccer betting tips
Soccer Books & DVDs
Tags
Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
