By Yoon Chul
Staff Reporter
With the World Cup now just 181 days away, deliberations on which 23 players will wear the Taegukgi in South Africa are becoming more serious.
On Thursday, manager Huh Jung-moo announced a list of 35 players who will participate in a training session at the National Training Center (NTC) in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province on Dec. 25 and 26. Of those players, 25 will be selected to attend a 10-day training session in Rustenburg, South Africa in January.
However, with many foreign leagues in the midst of their seasons at the moment, most Koreans playing abroad were not included on the list. Park Ji-sung of Manchester United, Lee Chung-yong of Bolton Wanderers, Seol Ki-hyeon of Fulham, Cho Won-hee of Wigan Athletic, Park Chu-young of AS Monaco and Cha Doo-ri of SC Freiburg won't be a part of either training session.
Neither will Ki Sung-yueng, who is about to join Scottish side Celtic, Lee Young-pyo of Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia and Kim Dong-jin of FC Zenit.
However, Japanese-based players Kim Nam-il of Vissel Kobe, Lee Keun-ho of Jubilo Iwata and Lee Jung-soo of Kyoto Sanga FC will attend.
Among domestic players, Lee Dong-gook of Jeonbuk Motors, who had a K-League best 20 goals this year, and Olympic team members Koo Ja-cheol of Jeju United, Lee Seung-yeoul of FC Seoul, Kim Bo-kyung of Hongik University were invited.
Forward No Byung-jun, midfielder Choi Hyo-jin and defender Shin Hyung-min of Pohang Steelers will also take part.
During his press conference at KFA headquarters in Seoul Thursday, Huh also took time to discuss the opposition Korea will face in the group stage at the World Cup.
"I saw Greece play in 2004, they put up a very tough defensive line. Although many of the players are different, they still use the same style," Huh said, referring to the 2004 European champions.
"At that time Greece was not a well organized team but they are now very sophisticated. They dominate the air and have the ability to penetrate."
As for Nigeria, Huh believes the team does have some weaknesses that can be exploited.
"They have height, speed and agility that allows their players to hold on to the ball. But sometimes they hang on to it for too long," he said.
Not surprisingly, Huh's biggest task is finding a way to compete with Argentina.
"There are no flaws in that team. Although they didn't play well in the qualifiers, it's still obvious that Argentina is one of the world's best teams," he said.
"We will try to neutralize their speed and look for chances to counterattack and try to penetrate into their side."
The match between Korea and Argentina will take place in Johannesburg at Soccer City Stadium, which is 1,753 meters above sea level.
To help prepare for the altitude, Korea will train in Rustenburg at a stadium that is more than 1,250 meters above sea level.
"(Argentina) didn't play well in games at high altitudes in Bolivia and Ecuador, but I think that may have been because they were over confident," Huh said.
"The altitude won't be an advantage for us, but we want to be prepared for it."
After spending 10 days in Rustenburg at the beginning of January, the squad will move to Malaga, Spain, where it's expected it will play a friendly against a nation that did not qualify for the World Cup.