Olympic Squad Revealed

June 29th, 2012 | by: Jae | Comments Off

The rare double post! I thought Hong Myeong-Bo would have released his final squad for the Olympics a week or so ago, but it just came out today. So, without further ado. Here it is:

Goalkeepers
JUNG Sung-Ryong (Suwon Samsung), LEE Beom-Young (Busan IPark)

Defenders
YUN Suk-Young (Chunnam Dragons), KIM Young-Kwon (Omiya Ardija[JPN]), OH Jae-Suk (Gangwon FC), JANG Hyun-Soo (FC Tokyo[JPN]), Hwang Seok-Ho (Hirosima Sanfrecce[JPN]), KIM Chang-Soo (Busan I-Park)

Midfielders
KI Sung-Yueng (Celtic FC[SCO]), NAM Tae-Hee (Lekhwia SC), HAN Guk-Young (Shonan Bellmare[JPN]), PARK Jong-Woo (Busan I’Park), KOO Ja-Cheol (Augsburg[GER]), JI Dong-Won (Sunderland[ENG]), BAEK Sung-Dong (Jubilo Iwata[JPN]), KIM Bo-Kyung (Cerezo Osaka[JPN])

Forwards
KIM Hyun-Sung (FC Seoul), PARK Chu-Young (Arsenal[ENG])

Not too many surprises on the list. The one exception may be Jung Sung-Ryeong. There had been a few predictions about who Hong would call up for the three overage players and the general consensus was Park Chu-Young and Ki Sung-Yong would definitely be there. The third spot was a bit more up in the air, but Jung was not a named mentioned often. Usually it was a defender like Lee Jung-Soo. I’m a bit surprised that Hong managed to get Suwon to agree to release him during the K-League.

Park Chu-Young’s inclusion isn’t too surprising. He was tipped to be in the squad for a long time given his struggles at Arsenal. The military scandal threatened his place, but since his press conference the furor has died down, and Hong’s presence at the presser also hinted at his inclusion. Ki Sung-Yong’s inclusion isn’t surprising either. Ki struggled to keep a spot at Celtic this season (and he’s widely rumored to be on the way out). A deep-lying, passing midfielder is something the U-23 team has lacked, so Ki should be a good addition.

It appears after a bit of wrangling with his club, Koo Ja-Cheol has managed to secure his dream of playing at the Olympics. Koo had made it no secret he wanted to play in London, but his parent club Wolfsburg didn’t really want him to. Guess things have been worked out. Also included is Sunderland’s Ji Dong-Won (although interestingly he’s listed as a midfielder). I was a little surprised to see Ji D.W. on the list since he hasn’t played much with the U-23 team since he was capped for the senior squad at the Asian Cup.

Overall though the team looks very strong on paper, particularly in midfield and attack. I don’t know as much about the defenders, and have only seen one, Kim Young-Kwon, in action. But seeing such a side, it certainly looks like Hong is going all in to win this one. Hopefully in a couple weeks I can get a preview for the Olympics up, with a little more information on all the players.