Call Ups for Spain, Qatar, and Lebanon

May 18th, 2012 | by: Jae | Comments Off

Choi has released his call ups for the friendly against Spain, and the first two matches for the final round of World Cup qualification against Qatar and Lebanon.

The list:
Goalkeeper: Kim Young-Kwang (Ulsan Hyundai), JUNG Sung-Ryong (Suwon Samsung), KIM Jin-Hyeon (Cerezo Osaka(JPN))

Defenders
KWAK Tae-Hwi (Ulsan Hyundai), CHOI Hyo-Jin (Sangju Sangmu), CHO Yong-Hyung (Al-Rayyan(QAT)), OH Beom-Seok (Suwon Samsung), Cho Byung Kuk (Jubilo Iwata(JPN)), LEE Jung-Soo (Al-Sadd(QAT)), PARK Joo-Ho (FC Basel(SUI)), KIM Young-Kwon (Omiya Ardija(JPN))

Midfielders
KIM Jae-Sung (Sangju Sangmu), KIM Bo-Kyung (Cerezo Osaka(JPN)), PARK Hyun-Bem (Suwon Samsung), KIM Jung-Woo (Jeonbuk Hyundai), KOO Ja-Cheol (Augsburg(GER)), KIM Do-Heon (National Police Agency), KIM Chi-Woo (Sangju Sangmu), YEOM Ki-Hun (National Police Agency), KI Sung-Yueng (Celtic(SCO)), LEE Keun-Ho (Ulsan Hyundai), NAM Tae-Hee (Lekhwiya SC(QAT))

Forwards
SON Heung-Min (Hamburg SV(GER)), JI Dong-Won (Sunderland(ENG)), LEE Dong-Gook (Jeonbuk Hyundai), KIM Shin-Wook (Ulsan Hyundai)

First thing of note. No Park Ju-Young. Park has lately been embroiled in a public controversy that is semi-football related. All Korean men, of good health, are required to serve in the military. Footballers usually continue playing on the military team (Sangju Sangmu Phoenix). At the beginning of the season, Park had said that part of his decision to go to Arsenal was due to the fact that he probably only had a few more seasons left until he would have to return to Korea to serve. However, a month or so ago it was revealed that Park was able to postpone his enlistment for 10 years due to a loophole in the law (Park got a special residency visa from Monaco where he used to play). This has created a huge uproar in Korea who feel that Park is abusing the law in his favor, and could possibly allow him to avoid serving at all if he uses all 10 years of the postponement since during “peace time” the oldest mandatory serving age is 35 (Park would be 36). Draft dodging is a very serious issue in Korea, people, particularly celebrities, who attempt to avoid their service are uniformly lambasted in the court of public opinion. Something, which Park Ju-Young is discovering to his cost now.

Park’s selection has been a widely debated issue amongst fans. Choi said, when asked about Park’s exclusion, that he (Choi) had told Park that he would call him up if Park publicly explained his decision to defer his military service. Park never did, and thus was never called. I want to write a post about this, so I will refrain from discussing this topic for now, and instead focus on those who did get called up.

Most of the players who were called up were also called up last time. New inclusions are the return of Koo Ja-Cheol and Hamburg’s Son Heung-Min. The other notable exclusion is Lee Chung-Yong. Granted it’s not a surprising exclusion considering Lee just came back to action as a late substitute for Bolton. He probably isn’t fit for an international match though. Celtic’s Cha Du-Ri also misses out, but back in is Sunderland’s Ji Dong-Won.

While it’s quite early, the lack of Park Ju-Young would seem to hint at a formation of 4-1-4-1 or 4-2-3-1. Jung Sung-Ryong will certainly be in goal. Choi Hyo-Jin will likely be back at right back. Lee Jung-Soo and Kwak Tae-Hwi will partner up in central defense. Park Won-Jae started the last match at left, but he wasn’t called up this time. So, I’ll guess we’ll probably see the return of Kim Young-Kwon. Ki Sung-Yong will play his usual deep, pass distributor role, with Kim Do-Hyeon playing the holding role. Koo Ja-Cheol will be the playmaker, Lee Keun-Ho will be wide right, and maybe Kim Bo-Kyeong on the left. Son Heung-Min is also an option on the left if Choi wants to be more attacking, but not likely. Lee Dong-Gook will start up top.

Lee Dong-Gook

Kim Bo-Kyeong / Koo Ja-Cheol / Lee Keun-Ho

Ki Sung-Yong / Kim Do-Hyeon

Kim Young-Kwan / Lee Jung-Soo / Kwak Tae-Hwi / Choi Hyo-Jin

Jung Sung-Ryong