Asian Cup Call Ups

December 24th, 2010 | by: Jae | Comments Off

Cho officially named his 23 man squad for the Asian Cup next month.

GK 21 KIM Yong-Dae FC Seoul 21/-11
GK 1 JUNG Sung-Ryong Seongnam Ilhwa 23/-16
GK 23 KIM Jin-Hyeon Cerezo Osaka(JPN) 0/0
DF 6 LEE Yong-Rae Suwon Samsung 0/0
DF 5 KWAK Tae-Hwi Kyoto Sanga FC(JPN) 15/4
DF 3 HWANG Jae-Won Suwon Samsung 4/0
DF 2 CHOI Hyo-Jin Sangmu 9/1
DF 12 LEE Young Pyo Al hilal(KSA) 120/5
DF 22 Cha Du-Ri Celtic(SCO) 52/4
DF 4 CHO Yong-Hyung Al-Rayyan(QAT) 38/0
DF 14 LEE Jung-Soo Al-Sadd(QAT) 32/4
MF 17 LEE Chung-Yong Bolton(ENG) 30/5
MF 18 KIM Bo-Kyung Cerezo Osaka(JPN) 7/0
MF 8 YOON Bitgaram Gyeongnam FC 3/1
MF 7 PARK Ji Sung Manchester Utd.(ENG) 94/13
MF 19 YEOM Ki-Hun Suwon Samsung 39/3
MF 16 KI Sung-Yueng Celtic(SCO) 29/4
MF 11 SON Heung-Min HamburgSV(GER) 0/0
MF 13 KOO Ja-Cheol Jeju Utd. 9/2
FW 20 JI Dong-Won Chunnam Dragons 0/0
FW 10 PARK Chu-Young AS Monaco(FRA) 48/15
FW 15 KIM Shin-Wook Ulsan Hyundai 2/0
FW 9 YOO Byung-Soo Incheon Utd. 1/0

There aren’t too many surprises in the call ups, the only possible one is youngster Son Heung-Min getting the nod after impressing in the Bundesliga (although he’s named as a midfielder here). The one thing that jumps out as a bit of a concern is that Cho has called up four forwards. If you take Park Chu-Young out of the mix the remaining three forwards have a total of three caps and zero goals between them. Considering this, scoring, has been a real problem for the team as of late a lack of experienced and proven goal scorers doesn’t seem to bode well for the team. The other issue that came to mind as I look through the call ups is who will play in central midfield. Ki Sung-Yueng has been playing fairly well for Celtic lately and I expect he’ll start. The other spot is a little more up in the air. My gut feeling is that it will be Cho favorite Yoon Bitgaram, although I may be mistaken. Lee Young-Pyo is likely to start as the left wingback. Right back is a little harder to predict, Cha Du-Ri did fairly well in South Africa, but doesn’t seem to be favored by Cho who hasn’t started Cha during his three match reign. Instead he has opted for Choi Hyo-Jin and that may very well be the case in Qatar. The attacking midfielders will almost surely be Park Ji-Sung, who is *sniff sniff* retiring from international duty after the Asian Cup, and fellow English Premiership player Lee Chung-Yong. Park Chu-Young will certainly start at forward and Jung Sung-Ryong will get the nod between the sticks. So, my predicted formation is:

3-4-2-1

Jung Sung-Ryong

Kwak Tae-Hwi / Cho Yong-Hyung / Lee Jung-Soo

Choi Hyo-Jin / Yoon Bitgaram / Ki Sung-Yueng / Lee Young-Pyo

Lee Chung-Yong / Park Ji-Sung

Park Chu-Young

I expect that we’ll get a better idea of Cho’s starting XI with the friendly against Syria on the 31st.