World Cup squad to be finalized May 31

By Kim Hyun-cheol

Staff reporter

The final 23-man South Korean roster for the upcoming South Africa World Cup is likely to be confirmed after a friendly with Belarus at the end of this month, right before the FIFA-designated deadline, according to the Korea Football Association (KFA).

``Only 26 players will be called up to the National Football Center (NFC) on May 18, two days after the friendly with Ecuador,'' national team coach Huh Jung-moo said Tuesday in a statement. ``The roster will be finalized before June 1 following a thorough review.''

June 1 is the official FIFA deadline for submissions of the 2010 World Cup participants. It is only 10 days before the kick-off, in comparison with the previous tournament in Germany, where the deadline was set 25 days before the opening.

Earlier, South Korea unveiled a 30-man preliminary squad last Friday. Those named will gather at the NFC next Monday. But some players with overseas teams, including Park Ji-sung of Manchester United and Park Chu-young of As Monaco, will join them later because of their league schedules.

Huh was previously expected to draw up the list after the Ecuador match, before flying to Japan for another friendly with the national team on May 24.

It appears, however, that he has decided to put off making his final selection to be certain on his evaluations of each candidate player.

There will be no particular problem about the change of plan concerning the timeline, the KFA said.

``It's the same squad as the previous list, just minus seven men,'' a KFA spokesman said. ``So the delay will not make any significant change in the established timetable.''

The places will remain open until the Belarus match, which is scheduled for May 30 during the national team's training session in Austria, Huh said.

With his best squad, Huh and his boys will have their final test against the FIFA top-ranked Spain on June 3, nine days before their first World Cup group match against Greece.

Huh says his focus is on enhancing competition among the players to improve the national team. With the naming of the final short-list coming at the last minute, the efforts of the preliminary roster will continue to be monitored in the challenge to be the last men standing.

The national team coach expects such a strategy will pay off at the World Cup.

``In the end, the results will speak for themselves,'' he said.