The Senior National Team Embarks on European Away Friendly
The South Korean senior national team is heading to Europe for an away friendly!
……South Korea is traveling to Europe for preparation matches ahead of the World Cup. The upcoming games are scheduled for the 24th against Norway and the 28th against Poland... Given that South Korea has been drawn into the same group as the Nordic side Sweden and the formidable European powerhouse Germany for the 2018 Russia World Cup, these preparation matches are expected to carry significant weight.
On the other hand, South Korea has called up 27 players for this away trip to the senior national team. Coach Lee Young-hee of the senior football national team stated, “Before the World Cup, we plan to assemble the roster by observing as many players as possible.”
Additionally, Ryu Ha-neul is the youngest player ever selected for the South Korean national team. If he plays in the senior A match against Norway, he will be 16 years and 115 days old, making him the youngest debutant in South Korean history......
Here is the South Korea senior national team call-up list.
GK – Kim Eun-hye (Gamba Osaka, 27), Lee Seung-yeon (Seoul, 33), Ha Jae-hee (Ulsan, 24)
DF – Park Hye-ri (Mainz, 30), Choi Su-ah (Kashima, 28), Choi Min-ha (Tianjin, 33), Choi Da-yoon (Jeonbuk, 29), Kang Yeon-ji (Seoul, 21), Seo Hye-won (Seoul, 28), Park Ye-rim (Ulsan, 22), Lee Ji-su (Jeonbuk, 30), Kim Min-seo (Suwon, 27), Kim Yu-jin (Pohang, 26)
MF – Yoon Seo-hee (Liverpool, 34), Lee Joo-hyun (Al-Sadd, 30), Jo Seo-won (Lille, 24), Han Ye-jin (Crystal Palace, 23), Gang Hae-young (Seattle, 25), Kim Eun-chae (Suwon, 35), Kim Chae-ri (Seoul, 20), Hong Ye-eun (Jeju, 28), Lee Eun (Busan, 30)
FW – Kim Seul-gi (West Ham, 27), Ryu Ha-neul (Barcelona, 16), Yang Hyun-hee (Seonhwa, 37), Kang Sae-young (Seoul, 28)
So, among the players picked this time, who do you think will make the World Cup roster?
Here is the predicted South Korea best 11.
----- Kim Seul-gi (West Ham) ------ Ryu Ha-neul (Barcelona) -----
Jo Seo-won (Lille) - Han Ye-jin (Crystal Palace) - Son Ju-hee (Jeonbuk) - Lee Joo-hyun (Al-Sadd)
Kim Min-seo (Suwon) - Kang Yeon-ji (Seoul) - Seo Hye-won (Seoul) - Park Hye-ri (Mainz)
-------------- Kim Eun-hye (Gamba Osaka) ---------------
I thought we’d go with a 4-4-2 since we can’t drop Kim Seul-gi or Ryu Ha-neul, the overseas central attacking midfielders. Yoon Seo-hee doesn’t play much at her club and is getting older, so she could be used as a substitute. For the right side, I debated between Lee Joo-hyun and Kim Chae-ri, the K League MVP, but I went with Lee Joo-hyun because she had good experience in her prime.
It seems balanced on both sides of the ball, right?
“Tsk, since you became the youngest, you should know to arrive early and wait. Still, not even a trace of you. No, why hasn’t the guy who’s in Europe arrived yet?”
Kang Sae-young, the starting striker of Seoul and called up to the national team, unpacked her bags the moment she arrived at the team’s accommodation in Norway and vented her dissatisfaction to her club teammate Kim Chae-ri.
“Ugh, old man. I’ll cover for you. After all, you’re no longer in the running for the national team now. Once I go overseas, that’s it for me.”
And Kim Chae-ri listened to Kang Sae-young’s complaints with one ear and let them out the other, responding with words that would please her.
“Who? Ah, her? But that’s a bit much. They haven’t even played in qualifiers and they’re talking about putting her in the national team. She’s only 16, so she can play in the next tournament. Ugh, thinking about how the seniors are dropping because of her...”
“This country is all about connections. If my mom was Ryu Ji-hye, I would have been called up to the national team at 16...”
“Tsk, right. Just looking at her, she doesn’t seem like us. Barcelona isn’t some trash club, and they’re using a 16-year-old as a starter?”
While watching Kang Sae-young endlessly badmouth her, Kim Chae-ri felt a chill run down her spine. But since no one in South Korea could speak directly to a senior, Kim Chae-ri kept agreeing with Kang Sae-young’s complaints.
“You’re right. If it were just skill, Seong Senior would have gone overseas right away with connections.”
“You think so too, Chae-ri?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Then when you go overseas this time, tell the club about my story too.”
“Aha, of course I’ll tell the senior.”
“Good. You must not change like the others when you go overseas. Look at Seo-won. Once she’s called up to the national team, she won’t eat with us anymore.”
“No, she hasn’t even been called up to the national team that many times...”
Now even badmouthing Jo Seo-won, who transferred to France last year. Kim Chae-ri, who knew that the number of times Jo Seo-won and Kang Sae-young were called up together was only about 5 or 6 times, was struggling to maintain her composure.
No, seeing her spewing such inferiority complexes made her feel pitiful.
“She wasn’t like this originally. Well, if it weren’t for Ryu Ha-neul, the World Cup roster would have been almost certain, so it makes sense that it turned out this way.”
In a way, this World Cup was essentially Kang Sae-young’s last one, so it was only natural that she was venting her inferiority.
As a football player, 28-year-old Kang Sae-young had scored 17 goals in the K League last season, setting a record for the most goals by a Korean player. But with that title, it was hard to fight for the starting striker spot in South Korea because the attacking resources in Korea were at an all-time high.
There was Kim Seul-gi, who scored 11 goals this season at West Ham, and Ryu Ha-neul, who scored 20 goals this season as a starter at Barcelona.
Plus, there was Yang Hyun-hee, the veteran of the national team and a 201cm giant who was called the Asian team slayer for her heading ability. Kang Sae-young had no place.
And four years later, Kang Sae-young would be 32 years old. At the peak of her prime, with no overseas transfer offers coming her way, the chance of her playing in the World Cup at 32 was almost zero.
If Ryu Ha-neul hadn’t been picked, Kang Sae-young might have taken the last spot on the attacking line, but with Ryu Ha-neul there, the chance of Kang Sae-young’s name appearing on the World Cup roster was almost zero as well.
So it was only natural that Kang Sae-young’s resentment was directed at Ryu Ha-neul. And it was also natural that her complaints were aimed at the overseas players.
Except for Yang Hyun-hee, who had a completely different tool, both Kang Sae-young’s competitors, Kim Seul-gi and Ryu Ha-neul, were players who played overseas.
“That bastard Kim Seul-gi has no manners. Hah, when I was in Korea, I was below her. If I hadn’t gone to the military...” Hah, the only thing that happened to me was getting injured at the Asian Games and being dragged into the military. Really.
“You’re right. The country doesn’t recognize talent like the senior. Really.”
“Chae-ri, you should solve your military problem quickly too. After the World Cup, it’s right into the Asian Games.”
“Yeah. This time I have to win the gold medal...”
“Well, it’s not bad for a woman to go to the military once. Chae-ri, how about you going once?”
“Aha, well, sure.”
While Kim Chae-ri was forced to endure Kang Sae-young’s complaints, the packing was finished and the players gathered for a short meeting.
“What? The players who play in Europe still aren’t here? The ones who are close by...”
When the players gathered in the meeting room, the dissatisfaction with the overseas players, especially those playing in Europe, spilled out. But even in the midst of that dissatisfaction, no one spoke in defense of the European players.
Actually, complaints about the European players weren’t just Kang Sae-young’s issue.
After Ryu Ji-hye entered La Liga, opening the floodgates for Korean players to move to Europe, a small number of talented players began crossing over. In 2010, thanks to the performances of the European players, South Korea achieved the historic feat of reaching the round of 16 in an away tournament for the first time.
Moreover, playing in Europe meant being one of the few outstanding talents in Korea.
So the coaches had no choice but to accommodate the European players, and when the European players didn’t play much at their clubs and their form was off, they were still called up to the national team and used as starters. The overseas players who played as starters and consistently performed outside Korea or Europe inevitably accumulated complaints.
The World Cup roster was no different.
Among the players on this World Cup roster, there were a total of 6 who played in Europe. Ryu Ha-neul, who was just about to become a starter, Kim Seul-gi at West Ham, and Han Ye-jin at Crystal Palace were playing as starters.
However, 34-year-old Yoon Seo-hee was only a candidate at Liverpool, and even though it was March, she had only played 7 games. Park Hye-ri, a right back playing at Mainz, and Jo Seo-won, who had moved to Lille this season, had only played around 10 games in the league.
So it was only natural to have complaints about the European players who had been called up to the national team as starters and had their names placed on the World Cup roster, when the non-European players who had played full time throughout the season and proven their skills in the league might not even have their form at its best.
Especially after the conflict deepened following Yoon Seo-hee’s failure to score despite shooting in the 2014 World Cup, leading to a group stage exit.
Since the feeling that Yoon Seo-hee did not trust the domestic players was conveyed to the other players, it was inevitable that such conflict would arise, no matter how much of a legend Yoon Seo-hee was in Korean football.
“When are they coming?”
“They said they’d arrive in the afternoon.”
“Ugh, some people have time to spare and are already here from the morning.”
“Tsk, the coach is giving us leeway one by one, so it’s not like they’re late. If we knew we were coming today, we should have prepared from the day before.”
“Honestly, shouldn’t Seo-hee Unnie handle this a bit? It’s hard to gather everyone.”
“Seo-hee Unnie isn’t really like that. Honestly, Seo-hee Unnie only thinks about herself.”
The complaints and conflicts among the players inevitably led to the formation of factions, and the current South Korean national team was divided into two sides, so to speak.
“Problem. Problem. Tsk tsk. The World Cup is only three months away, and the atmosphere is like this.”
And Kim Chae-ri, the youngest non-European player who was about to move to Deportivo after the World Cup, clicked her tongue while watching the scene.