SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Veteran star Son Heung-min will lead South Korea’s team. world cup Campaign as a coach Hong Myung Bo The team named 26 members on Saturday.
The tournament, hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada, will be Son’s fourth World Cup. Leaving Tottenham Joined last summer after 10 years in the Premier League Los Angeles FC in Major League Soccer.
This will be South Korea’s 11th consecutive appearance since 1986.
Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee Kang-in and Bayern Munich defender Kim Min-jae also made the list for the 48-team tournament.
Although Feyenoord’s star player is suffering from an ankle injury, coach Hong has called up talented midfielder Hwang In-beom.
“Our main goal is to advance to the round of 32,” Hong said in Seoul.
“We don’t know what will happen after that. We could go further than we imagined. Our goal for the World Cup is not the last 32. Our main goal is the last 32.”
South Korea advanced to the last 16 by defeating Portugal in the final group match in 2022, but lost to five-time champions Brazil.
Hong was the captain of the team that reached the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup, and also coached the Taegeuk Warriors in the 2014 tournament, where they only managed one point in the Brazil tournament.
South Korea will play all three Group A matches in Mexico, starting with a match against the Czech Republic on June 11, followed by Mexico a week later and South Africa on June 24.
In March, they lost 4-0 against Ivory Coast, followed by a 1-0 loss against Austria, and their results were poor heading into the tournament.
South Korea will begin preparations by heading to Salt Lake City on Monday, where they will face Trinidad and Tobago and El Salvador in their final warm-up games.
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Korea representative:
Goalkeeper: Cho Hyun-woo, Kim Seung-gyu, Song Bum-geun.
DF: Kim Min-jae, Cho Yoo-min, Lee Han-beom, Kim Tae-hyung, Park Jin-seop, Lee Ki-hyuk, Lee Tae-seok, Seol Young-woo, Jens Kastrup, Kim Moon-hwan.
Midfielders: Yang Hyun-joong, Baek Seung-ho, Hwang In-beom, Kim Jin-gyu, Bae Jun-ho, Uhm Ji-sung, Hwang Hee-chan, Lee Dong-kyung, Lee Jae-sung, Lee Gang-in.
FW: Oh Hyun-gyu, Son Heung-min, Cho Gu-sung
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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup
