Hwang Seon-hong, who is trying to win his third consecutive Asian Games men’s soccer championship, prepares for two evaluation matches in China in June.
An official from the Korea Football Association said on the 25th, “At the request of the Chinese Football Association,안전놀이터 we are discussing to hold two evaluation matches in China on June 15 and 19.”
The China Football Association also announced on its homepage that day that it would play two evaluation matches (June 15 and 19) at the Jinhua Sports Center Stadium in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, China against the Korean national under-24 (U-24) team.
The Korean U-24 men’s national team, led by coach Hwang Seon-hong, will challenge for three consecutive Asian Games titles, following the 2014 Incheon Games and the 2018 Jakarta/Palembang Games, and the Hangzhou Games.
The Hangzhou Asian Games men’s football will be held in six cities (eight stadiums) from September 19 to October 7, and Jinhua Sports Center, which will play an evaluation match against China this time, is one of them.
Coach Hwang Seon-hong said in a phone call with Yonhap News, “The Asian Games men’s football is also held in cities near Hangzhou, and the Jinhua Sports Center Stadium is one of them.”
This evaluation match will be held during the A-match period in June. Team A, led by coach Jurgen Klinsmann, will have an evaluation match against Peru on the 16th of next month (Busan Asiad Main Stadium) and El Salvador (Daejeon World Cup Stadium) on the 20th.
Accordingly, head coach Hwang Seon-hong and head coach Klinsman started to coordinate in advance over the players to be called up and shared sympathy about the player selection.
Fans’ attention is focused on which team the players who can be included in both the A national team and the Asian Games national team will play the A match schedule in June.
The Hangzhou Asian Games were originally scheduled to be held last year, but were postponed for a year in the aftermath of a novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19).
At the same time, the ag
Accordingly, players born on or after January 1, 1999 can participate in the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Starting with Lee Kang-in (Mallorca), born in 2001, Um Won-sang (Ulsan), Song Min-gyu (Jeonbuk), and Jung Woo-young (Freiburg), born in 1999, are ‘representative A-level resources’ who can participate in the Asian Games.
In particular, I am more interested in Lee Kang-in because he is a player who is evaluated as a key resource in both Hwang Sun-Hong and Klinsman.
Coach Klinsman recorded 1 draw and 1 loss in his debut as the Korean national team coach in March, so the burden of winning the A-match in June may be high.
Regarding this, coach Hwang said, “I have officially coordinated with coach Klinsman to some extent,” and said, “I still have to watch more details such as injured players.”
He added, “The order for the national team to come out first is the order,” adding, “Coach Klinsman is also an open-minded person. We are having a good conversation.”
e of participating players who were ‘under 23 years old’ was also widened to ‘under 24 years old’.
