Coach Paulo Bento announces Team Korea’s call-up list

The South Korean national football team led by coach Paulo Bento is going through the last rigorous player selection process focusing on K-league players in the face of the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

The Korea Football Association announced a list of 27 players who will join the training camp squad before the kick-off of the World Cup. The players will be called up at the National Football Center in Paju on October 28. And they will go through the last friendly match at home on November 11. The final list of 26 will be announced on November 12. As it is not the A match period set by FIFA, those playing in Europe are excluded. Most of the players will be K-league players.

The list included Oh Hyeon-gyu of the Suwon Bluewings, who scored 13 goals in the K-league, for the first time. Kim Seung-gyu of the Al-Shabab FC, Jeong Woo-yeong of the SC Freiburg, Kwon Kyung-won of the Gamba Osaka, and Son Jun-ho of the Shandong Taishan F.C., who are playing abroad, made a list. “I called up the players to make them in their best state before the World cup," coach Paulo Bento said. "Before finalizing the list, I will use this as an opportunity to check players’ abilities.”

K-league's no. 1 shooter Joo Min-kyu of the Jeju United FC, who scored 17 goals, and Lee Seung-woo of the Suwon FC, the no. 4 shooter who scored 14 goals, weren’t chosen by the coach. Joo was never chosen by the coaches of the national team. Lee, who had returned to K-league this year, played the match against Costa Rica led by coach Bento in 2018. However, he couldn’t make the national team since the match against Iran in March 2019. Joo and Lee won’t be able to play at the Qatar World Cup as they missed the last chance to be called up for training.


Jae-Yeong Yoo elegant@donga.com