4 men dropped from national team

Baseball

Published: 17 May. 2010, 18:55

4 men dropped from national team

National team manager Huh Jung-moo whittled down his provisional 30-man lineup for the World Cup yesterday, dropping four home-based players.

With the cuts, Huh has 26 men remaining on his roster and will make the final three cuts in time for FIFA’s June 2 deadline.

Cho Won-hee and Kang Min-soo of the Suwon Bluewings, Kim Chi-woo of FC Seoul and Hwang Jae-won of the Pohang Steelers, will not see action at the games in South Africa.

“It was not an easy decision. We made the cuts on the basis that we would allocate two players per each position,” Huh said at the National Football Center in Paju, Gyeonggi.

“The guys we left off the team are all good players, but we favored players who can play more than one position.”

Kang and Cho not been in top condition and Kim had been slow to recover from an injury. Hwang, who was considered an outside shot, was cut after he failed to live up to expectations during the
friendly match against Ecuador on Sunday night at Seoul World Cup Stadium.

The defense selections were no surprise, with the exception of center Kim Hyung-il of the Pohang Steelers, who made the squad in place of his teammate, Hwang. Hwang is known as an all-around player
with leadership skills, but he failed to cover his assignment on two occasions on Sunday.

“Hwang is a player with a lot of upside, but for some strange reason, he made some big errors whenever he played for the national team,” explained Huh.

As expected, all 12 overseas-based players made the final cut. Two of the most notable players on the bubble who made the team were Lee Dong-gook and Ahn Jung-hwan.

Lee makes his return to the World Cup for the first time since the 1998 event in France. As a 19-year-old, Lee saw limited playing time in France but was considered a promising forward. His long
absence from the World Cup started when he was cut from the 2002 squad.

He was considered a lock to make the 2006 Germany World Cup squad, but suffered a knee injury leading up to the big event.

Lee is not in the clear yet, as he suffered a hamstring injury on Sunday and is expected to be out for three weeks.

“We heard his injury is not all that serious. We’ll keep an eye on him until the June 2 deadline when we have to submit the roster entry to FIFA,” said Huh.

“Lee is a player we must have on the team.”

Another player who must recover by June 2 to preserve his spot is Kim Jae-sung. The midfielder is tabbed to back up Lee Chung-yong in the right wing position, but he’s suffering from a right ankle
injury.

“Kim didn’t damage any ligaments or bones. He’ll be able to return to team practice when the swelling goes down,” Huh said.

Also included on the team are a trio of youngsters — Lee Seung-yeoul, Kim Bo-kyung and Koo Ja-cheol — who played a crucial role on the Under-20 squad’s quarterfinal run in Egypt last year.

*The full version of the article can be read in tomorrow’s edition of the JoongAng Daily.

By Jason Kim, Jang Chi-hyeok [jason@joongang.co.kr]

Related Korean Article

강민수.김치우.황재원도 제외..최종 23명은 6월1일 확정

'라이언킹' 이동국(전북)과 '올드 보이' 안정환(다롄 스더), '왼발 달인' 염기훈(수원)이 2010 남아프리카공화국 월드컵 출전 기대를 부풀린 반면 국내파 조원희와 강민수(이상 수원), 김치우(서울), 황재원(포항) 등 네 명은 월드컵 참가 희망을 접었다.

허정무 축구대표팀 감독은 17일 오후 파주 NFC(대표팀트레이닝센터)에서 코칭스태프 회의를 열고 남아공 최종 엔트리 23명을 고려한 26명의 명단을 확정했다.

지난달 30일 예비 명단 30명을 발표하고 지난 10일 국내파 중심으로 대표팀을 불러모아 자체 훈련을 지휘했던 허정무 감독은 16일 에콰도르와 평가전에서 선수들의 기량을 점검하고 나서 최종 엔트리 윤곽을 그렸다.

예상대로 대표팀 '캡틴' 박지성(맨체스터 유나이티드)과 이청용(볼턴), 박주영(AS모나코), 기성용(셀틱), 차두리(프라이부르크), 일본 J-리그의 이근호(이와타) 등 해외파 12명은 허정무 감독의 재신임을 받았다.

박지성과 이청용, 박주영, 기성용, 이근호 외에 해외파는 베테랑 수비수 이영표(알 힐랄), 러시아에서 뛰는 김남일(톰 톰스크), 중국 슈퍼리그에서 맹활약한 안정환(다롄 스더), J-리그 수비수 이정수(교토), 곽태휘(가시마), 김보경(오이타)도 낙점을 받았다.

이와 함께 에콰도르와 경기 때 허벅지를 다쳐 3주 진단을 받았던 공격수 이동국은 26명 명단에 이름을 올려 1998년 프랑스 월드컵 이후 12년 만에 월드컵 본선 무대를 밟을 희망이 생겼다.

또 발등 부상에서 회복한 염기훈과 허벅지 부상 여파로 독일 분데스리가에서 9경기 연속 결장했던 수비수 차두리, 감독 교체 후 8경기 연속 벤치를 지켰던 미드필더 기성용도 최종 엔트리에 들 가능성이 커졌다.

한글 기사 보기