The South Korean national soccer team, led by head coach Jürgen Klinsmann, has begun training for its two October A matches.
The Taegeuk Warriors were called up by Klinsmann at 2 p.m. on Sept. 9 at the Paju National Football Center (NFC).
The team will play a friendly against Tunisia at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on Sept. 13 at 8 p.m., followed by a match against Vietnam at the Suwon World Cup Stadium four days later on Sept. 17 at 8 p.m.
After earning their first win in six games with a 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia in an exhibition match on March 13, Klinsmann’s men will be looking to continue their winning streak against Tunisia and Vietnam, who are considered ‘underdogs’ in the October A matches.
On the first day of training, 18 of the 24 players named to the October A-Match roster gathered first.
Captains Son Heung-min (Tottenham) and Lee Jae-sung (Mainz), as well as the “golden quartet” of Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), Jung Woo-young (Stuttgart), Hong Hyun-seok (Ghent) and Seol Young-woo (Ulsan), who returned from the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games with three consecutive titles, were among the first to train.
Oh Hyun-kyu (Celtic), who was scheduled to join the squad later in the day, also appeared with the squad.
Overseas players Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton) and Hwang Eui-jo (Norwich) are expected to arrive at Paju NFC this evening.
Hwang In-beom (Zvezda) and Park Yong-woo (Al Ain), as well as Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich) and Cho Kyu-sung (Mittwilan), who played for their clubs earlier in the day, will join the squad on Tuesday.
Jung, who scored eight goals in Hangzhou to finish as the tournament’s top scorer, stretched out his eight fingers as he entered the training center and smiled broadly as he showed off his Asian Games gold medal from his jeans pocket.
Klinsmann had his first practice at 4 p.m. for about an hour.
With so many overseas players and the Asian Games gold medalists returning home the day before, Klinsmann’s plan for the first day of training was to focus on recovery.
In the first 30 minutes of practice, which was open to the media, Klinsmann, the coaching staff and the players stood in a circle in the shade of a tree, protected from the strong autumn sun under a cloudless blue sky, and congratulated the Asian Games gold medalists with applause, creating a lively atmosphere.
Afterward, the athletes spread out mats on the training field and stretched in pairs of two, mimicking their coaches’ movements to loosen up their hips, thighs, and other muscles.
On the other hand, Niklas Alves, a medical team trainer, joined the training session.
An official from the Korea Football Association said, “Trainer Alves officially joined the team from the October A match. He is a top-class German trainer who also worked for many years at Augsburg in the German Bundesliga.”
Head coach Andreas Harečok was absent from the training session as he was rushed home due to his mother’s deteriorating health. 카지노사이트
