The U-24 national team will continue its mini-call-up training this month in preparation for the Hangzhou Asian Games in September.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) announced on Thursday that the Asian Games squad led by head coach Hwang Sun-hong will hold a mini-camp at Paju NFC from July 7-9.
After announcing the final roster on March 14, Hwang trained with only 14 domestic players from March 25-27. As it is not the A-match period set by the International Football Federation (FIFA), the team will focus on players who play in the domestic league, excluding overseas players such as Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), Jung Woo-young (Stuttgart), Hong Hyun-seok (Ghent) and Park Kyu-hyun (Dresden). Seven players who played in the semifinals of the Korea Football Association (FA) Cup on Sept. 9 – Kim Jung-hoon, Park Jin-seop, Baek Seung-ho, Park Jae-yong, Song Min-gyu (Jeonbuk), Ko Young-joon (Pohang) and Min Sung-joon (Incheon) – were excluded.
However, the U-22 players will join the squad as they prepare for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup qualifier in Changwon next month. Kim Jun-hong (Gimcheon), Bae Jun-ho (Sangsang Daejeon) and Choi Seok-hyun (Dankook University), who led the team to the U-20 World Cup quarterfinals, will join Hwang for the first time. Former K League players Jeon Byung-kwan (Daejeon) and Heo Yul (Gwangju) were also selected.
Korea was drawn with Bahrain, Thailand and Kuwait in Group E at the Hangzhou Asian Games. They will face Qatar, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar in the U-23 Asian Cup qualifiers.
Asian Games Training Roster 꽁머니지급
Goalkeepers = Kim Jun-hong (Gimcheon), Lee Kwang-yeon (Gangwon)
Defenders = Seol Young-woo (Ulsan), Bae Seo-joon (Daejeon), Lee Jae-ik (Eland), Lee Han-beom (Seoul), Choi Seok-hyun (Dankook), Choi Jun (Busan), Hwang Jae-won (Daegu)
Midfielders = Bae Jun-ho, Jeon Byung-kwan (Daejeon), Uhm Won-sang (Ulsan), Jung Ho-yeon (Gwangju), Cho Young-wook (Gimcheon)
Forward = Ahn Jae-joon (Bucheon), Heo Yul (Gwangju)