All-Star Team Faces Tight Training Schedule
By Kim Jae-won
Staff Reporter
K-League All-Star team will have a tight training schedule with a four-day training camp.
A few clubs said they don't like the long training camp during the break, but the Korean professional football organizing body argue it is worth having.
Korean All-Star team manager Cha Bum-kun called the 18-member squad to a hotel in Incheon Wednesday. The best of the best team had training that day and had a match with Incheon United's second league team Thursday.
The K-League team will host its J-League counterparts at the Incheon World Cup Stadium, Saturday.
Jeonbuk Motors has two players on the squad ― striker Lee Dong-gook and midfielder Choi Tae-uk ― and expressed concerns about the schedule.
``It is not good (for the club) if players are away for a long time. K-League games resume next weekend, so we are a little bit concerned about that,'' Motors public relations manager Son Ji-hoon told The Korea Times, Thursday.
National team members, including Lee and FC Seoul midfielder Ki Sung-yueng, will have three games in a week as Korea hosts Paraguay in a friendly on Wednesday.
``It is a tough schedule because I had no time to rest during the season,'' Lee told KBS recently.
But the K-League argue that they need time to prepare the team for the fans.
``We already agreed with the J-League that both sides will play with the best squad. Players need time to get used to playing together,'' K-League Public Relations and Marketing Team Manager Park Yong-cheol said.
``The national team will also have a training camp before the friendly match. The four-day break is quite busy.''
One K-League club executive said that the team is happy to have players on the All-Star team.
``It is honor that our club members play for the K-League All-star team. We will help K-League as much as we can,'' said an officer for the Pohang Steelers, who have two All-Star players, defenders Choi Hyo-jin and Kim Hyung-il.
Some critics say that the extra training is because of the special relationship between Korea and Japan.
``Definitely, I want to win over Japan. Korea-Japan match always gets special interests. So I prepare the game with that in mind,'' Cha said.
``I extended preparation time and we will have one more training day than last year,'' J-League All-Star team boss Oswaldo de Oliveira Filho of Brazil said. ``Our team squad is also better than before.''
K-League won 3-1 at last year's inaugural event in Tokyo.