As the national team sets sail for the 2026 World Cup in North and Central America, it will be warming up at the Mokdong Sports Complex in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, rather than at the Paju National Training Center (NFC). The decision was based on a combination of training conditions, including cold weather.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) released the 23-man roster for the November A match on June 6. The roster includes captain Son Heung-min (Tottenham), as well as other key players such as Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton), and Cho Kyu-sung (Mitwillan).
South Korea, led by Jürgen Klinsmann, will convene at a hotel in Seoul on the 13th and train at the Mokdong Stadium main stadium. The stadium currently serves as the home of the K League 2 Seoul Eland.
The national team will face Singapore at 8 p.m. on Sept. 16 at the Seoul World Cup Stadium before traveling to China for the first leg of the second round of World Cup qualifying, which will be played at 9 p.m. on Sept. 21 at the Shenzhen Universiade Sports Center.
South Korea will compete against China, Singapore and Thailand in Group C of the World Cup Asia 2018 Second Qualifying Round. The team must finish in the top two in the group to qualify for the third round.
What is notable about this call-up is that the national team will be packing up at a hotel in Seoul instead of Paju NFC, where they have always gathered.
According to a KFA official, the association has a contract with Paju NFC until this year and is considering renewing it ahead of the opening of the Cheonan Football Center in Cheonan at the end of next year.
Furthermore, considering the somewhat outdated facilities and the cold weather in Paju, the team decided to unpack at a hotel in Seoul instead of Paju NFC and train at Mokdong Stadium.
“The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup, which will be held in Qatar next January, will also be held in a hot place, so we plan to convene the next national team in the south, where it is relatively less cold,” said a KFA official. 보스토토 주소
The association plans to focus on the domestic squad for the Asian Cup in January before traveling to the Middle East for the tournament in late December.
Klinsmann’s side will be aiming to win the Asian Cup next year, 63 years after their first title since 1960.
South Korea last competed at the 2019 Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where they lost 0-1 to Qatar in the quarterfinals. They finished runners-up at the 2015 tournament in Australia, losing in the final to hosts Australia.