Stripped-back Korea to take on Iceland on Nov. 11

Football

Published: 25 Oct. 2022, 17:30

Stripped-back Korea to take on Iceland on Nov. 11

Cho Gue-sung, left, and Kwon Chang-hoon celebrate after Kwon scored for the Korean national team in a game against Egypt at Seoul World Cup Stadium in western Seoul on June 14. Both Cho and Kwon play for K League 1 side Gimcheon Sangmu. [YONHAP]

A stripped-back Korean squad will take on Iceland in one last friendly on Nov. 11 before the 2022 World Cup kicks off on Nov. 20.

The last time Korea faced Iceland was during a friendly on Jan. 15, when Korea took a comfortable 5-1 victory at the Mardan Sports Complex in Antalya, Turkey.

As it was in January, the squad will be made up exclusively of players from the Korean and Japanese leagues, missing international stars like Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur, Hwang Hee-chan of Wolverhampton Wanderers, Kim Min-jae of Napoli, Lee Jae-sung of Mainz and Hwang Ui-jo and Hwang In-beom of Olympiacos.

The friendly will serve as one last chance to tune up 13 days before Korea is scheduled to play their opening game against Uruguay at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar on Nov. 24.

Korea will then face Ghana on Nov. 28, before once again rounding out the group stage with a game against Portugal on Dec. 2.

The Iceland friendly will take place at Hwaseong Sports Town in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi on Nov. 11 at 8 p.m. and will be broadcasted live on TV Chosun and Coupang Play.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]