By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
The final 18 Taekuk Warriors have been selected for South Korea's Olympic football team.
Manager Park Sung-hwa announced 18 players and four reserves at the National Football Center (NFC) in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on Monday morning.
As expected, the roster includes forwards Park Chu-young and Lee Keun-ho; goalie Jung Sung-ryong; midfielders Kim Seung-yong, Lee Chung-yong and Ki Sung-yueng; and defenders Kim Jin-kyu, Kang Min-soo and Kim Chang-soo.
The 53-year-old boss picked only two wild cards, Kim Jung and Kim Dong-jin, out of three availability spots for the squad, which is drawn with Italy, Cameroon and Honduras in Group D at the Beijing Olympics.
Shin Young-rok beat Seo Dong-hyeon and Yang Dong-hyen in a race for the team's final striker slot, while Oh Jang-eun, who has recovered from an injury, and Back Ji-hoon also made the unit.
Defender Kim Kun-hoan of Kyunghee University, who equalized in a friendly match against Guatemala last week, is the only amateur player on the team.
Meanwhile, Park selected defenders Lee Yo-han and Kim Chi-woo, goalkeeper Yang Dong-won and Seo as the reserves.
Park's side, which hopes to give South Korea its first semifinal appearance in the history of the Olympics, started training Monday in Paju and will have two warm-up matches against Ivory Coast Sunday and Australia on July 31 before flying to Beijing on Aug. 3.