Is Park Ji-sung set for March return?
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Korea manager Hong Myung-bo, right, says former Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung could play for the national team by as early as March. / Yonhap
By Kim Tong-hyung
Korea manager Hong Myung-bo continues to stress that Park Ji-sung’s return to international football hasn’t been set in stone. Still, that hasn’t prevented him from circling a comeback date for the former Manchester United midfielder, who hasn’t played for his country in nearly three years.
Talking with Korean journalists at the national football team’s training camp in Brazil, Hong said he sees the possibility of Park, now with Dutch club PSV Eindhoven, playing for him as early as March. Korea is scheduled for a friendly against Greece that month in a tune-up ahead of the World Cup finals in Brazil, which kicks off in June.
Park, arguably been the country’s most accomplished footballer in the past two decades, has played in the three previous World Cups and scored a number of crucial goals for Korea in world sport’s biggest stage. At the age of 33, Park is no longer the player he was for Alex Ferguson’s Manchester Untied team ― an industrious midfielder who was affectionately called "Three-lung Park’’ by fans at Old Trafford.
However, Hong believes that Park’s experience and flair for the moment could significantly help his young team, where the average age of players is measured below 25. His versatility, which allows him to cover both the defensive and attacking midfielder positions, would also make him an asset in Hong’s favored 4-2-3-1 formation, which is based on a packed midfield protecting the defensive line.
Park announced his retirement from international football after the 2011 Asian Cup tournament and has repeatedly denied media speculation of his return. Hong, who seems to believe he can convince Park to wear the colors of his country again, plans to meet the player sometime in February, after the team’s training session in North America.
"Yes, I can picture that … But I haven’t set the time for my trip to the Netherlands. I think everything is possible at this point,’’ said Hong when asked whether he finds it possible that Park would be available for the Greece game.
"I will be meeting Park to listen to his opinion. It will entirely be his decision, and I will be meeting him to ask him rather than persuade him.’’
Hong replaced Choi Kang-hee at the coaching helm after Korea’s final qualifying match in June last year. Under his watch, the Koreans scored 12 goals and conceded 11 in 10 matches, managing to win only three of the games against four defeats and three draws. FIFA’s ping-pong balls grouped Korea with Belgium, Algeria and Russia in Group H in Brazil.