Young Players Fill Olympic Football Roster

The director of the Korean Olympic National Team, Park Seong-hwa, has recruited “fresh blood” going into the preliminary round of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Ten members of the 24 players whom Park announced he would utilize, with a few days to go till the preliminary round game against Uzbekistan at the Seoul World Cup Stadium scheduled for August 22, are younger than 20 years old. Nine of the players played in the Youth World Cup in Canada last year.

Players barely in their twenties such as Shin Yeong-rok (age: 20), Ha Tae-gyun (age: 20), and Shim Yeong-seong (age: 20), squeezed passed such players as Park Ju-yeong (age: 22) and Shim Woo-yeon (age: 22) to get on the roster. Other than Lee Geun-ho (age: 22), who played midfield on June 6 during the second round preliminary game against the United Arab Emirates, most players including Han Dong-won (age: 21) are new recruits.

The 20-year-olds, who once played for the youth team, to make the team are: Shin Yeong-rok, Ha Tae-gyun, Shim Yeong-seong, Ki Seong-ryong (age: 18), Choi Cheol-soon (age: 20), Lee Cheong-ryong (age: 19), Lee Sang-ho (age: 20), Shin Gwang-hoon (age: 20), and the new goalkeeper Kim Jin-hyeon (age: 20). He wasn’t on the youth team, but Kim Chang-hoon (age: 20) also joined the team.

The final entry will have 18 players, so six will be cut the day before the game, but the four offensive players will most likely stay on. Director Park was serious when he said that he would have at least five players from the youth team to give the Olympic team a boost.

The Entry (24 Players)-

GK=Jeong Seong-ryong, Yang Dong-won, Song Yoo-geol, Kim Jin-hyeon; DF=Kim Chang-hoon, Kang Min-soo, Kim Chang-soo, Kim Jin-gyu, Lee Yoo-han, Lee Kang-jin, Shin Gwang-hoon, Choi Cheol-soon; MF=Baek Ji-hoon, Kim Seung-ryong, Lee Cheong-ryong, Ki Seong-ryong, Lee Sang-ho, Oh Jang-eun, Lee Geun-ho, Baek Seung-min; FW=Han Dong-won, Shin Yeong-rok, Ha Tae-gyun, Shim Yeong-seong

yjongk@donga.com