By Yoon Chul
Staff reporter
South Korea's national football team started their training camp Monday in preparation for the upcoming World Cup in South Africa. The preliminary squad was called to the National Football Center (NFC), with all 30 players expected to be there by next Monday due to individual schedules.
On the first day, a total of 11 players came to the NFC. They included three overseas players ― Ki Sung-yueng of Celtic FC, Park Chu-young of AS Monaco and Cha Du-ri of SC Freiburg.
Domestic players from Jeonbuk Motors, Pohang Steelers, Seongnam Chunma and Suwon BlueWings are supposed to join the national squad after playing their round of 16 matches of the AFC Champions League, which are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung and Lee Chung-yong of Bolton Wanderers, who played the last game of the English Premier League season Sunday, will arrive at the NFC on Tuesday. The arrivals of Ahn Jung-hwan of Dalian Shide and Lee Jung-soo of Kashima Antlers are expected to be delayed because of their team schedules.
National team head coach Huh Jung-moo said he will just take things slowly for the moment.
``I will not push players into hard training right away, as they are coming back from tough schedules,'' he said.
Huh's first priority is to check each player as well as prepare strategies for the team for the friendly with Ecuador, which will be held at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Sunday.
``After the Ecuador match, I will decide the final squad of 23 along with two or three in reserve, as soon as possible,'' Huh added.
All the national team members will start a group training session from May 17 until the day they depart to Saitama for another friendly with archrival Japan, scheduled for May 24.
Early arrivals said that they will do their best to make the final World Cup roster.
Striker Park Chu-young, upon arrival, said his injury is not too severe.
``It's not that I injured the same part twice,'' Park said. ``I'm just not 100 percent fit yet.''
The Monaco striker was injured in February during the round of 16 in the league cup against FC Girondins de Bordeaux in collision, and was out of the roster for South Korea's friendly with Cote de I'voire in March.
Huh was also positive on Park's prospects, saying it will take about a week for Park to resume normal practice.
``(Park) is good enough to join training right now, but we want to be sure to get rid of anything worrisome,'' he said.
This time, the KFA has introduced some technical support for the squad members, including a training facility in preparation for high-altitude venues.
The new facility, called an oxygen room, is aimed helping the players prepare for playing at a high altitude. South Korea will play Argentina at Johannesburg's Soccer City, some 1,750 meters above sea level.
``It can give the squad a virtual experience of being at high altitude,'' a national team medical team official said.
The KFA also announced Sunday that the players will wear an electronic vest, which will check various physical attributes of the players such as heartbeat, pace and recovery times.
To collect more data, there will also be 12 wireless transmitter sensors installed across the ground.
After two friendlies with Ecuador and Japan, South Korea will have two more games against Belarus and Spain on May 30 and June 3 respectively, before the World Cup kicks off on June 11.