The first Asian Cup championship challenge in 64 years starts
Klinsmann has entered the journey to win the Asian Cup for the first time in 64 years. The national team, led by head coach Jürgen Klinsmann, was convened at a hotel in downtown Seoul on Wednesday and held its first training session for about two hours from 2 p.m. on the same day. The 16 players, including domestic players who finished their K-League schedules and some overseas players who finished their first half of the season, will undergo domestic training for the 2023 Qatar Asian Cup until Saturday. The Korea Football Association KFA announced a list of 16 national players who can train in Korea on the 18th. The domestic convocation training included Cho Hyun-woo Ulsan, Song Bum-keun Shonan Belmare, goalkeeper, Kim Young-kwon, Jung Seung-hyun, Kim Tae-hwan, Seol Young-woo Ulsan, Kim Jin-soo Jeonbuk, Lee Ki-je Suwon, Kim Joo-sung Seoul, Lee Jae-sung Mainz, Hwang In-beom Turbena Zvezda, Jung Woo-young Stuttgart, Moon Seon-min, Park Jin-seop Jeonbuk, Lee Soon-min Gwangju, Lee Sang midfielder, and Cho Kyu-sung Mit Whelan, striker. Among them, Hwang will join the team on Tuesday, while the remaining 15 members have been called for training normally. The convocation training, which will run through Saturday in Korea, will focus on physical fitness indoors without outdoor training. During the convocation training, coach Klinsmann will announce the final list of 26 players who will play in the Asian Cup at CGV Yongsan on the 28th. It has increased from three to 26, and unlike the last World Cup in Qatar, only 23 out of 26 players can be registered for each game. Three players who have not been registered must watch the game on the technical sheet. Klinsmann will then leave for the United Arab Emirates UAE, where he will train for off-season training, and begin training in Abu Dhabi to adjust to the local area and begin the final hardening. Key players such as Son Heung-min Tottenham, Hwang Hee-chan Wolverhampton, Kim Min-jae Bayern Munich, and Lee Kang-in Paris Saint-Germain will join from Abu Dhabi. Klinsmann will play the final mock test against Middle East ambush Iraq ahead of the main tournament. KFA said on the 23rd, "The national soccer team will play an on-site warm-up match against Iraq at the Abu Dhabi Stadium of New York University in the United Arab Emirates UAE at 10 p.m. on January 6, 2024 Korean time." Korea has been eliminated in the Middle East sandstorm in the Asian Cup. In the last 2019 tournament, he also experienced the pain of being eliminated after being hit by Qatar in the quarterfinals. The Iraq match is a vaccination against this. Iraq belongs to Group D along with Japan, Indonesia, and Vietnam. They will consider Korea as a "virtual Japan" and compete in warm-up matches. If the team plays against Iraq, it will arrive in Qatar on Jan. 10, the venue for the upcoming showdown. Korea will play its first match against Bahrain in the Middle East on Jan. 15 and play its second match against Jordan, another Middle Eastern country, on Saturday. Korea will play its final group match against Malaysia, which is under the leadership of KFA Team Korea, on Saturday. In Group E, South Korea has built a strong power, but Bahrain and Jordan have advanced to the final playoff of the Asian qualifying round for the World Cup in the past, and are considered an ambush. Klinsmann is aiming to win the Asian Cup for the first time since the second tournament in 1960. South Korea won the first tournament in Hong Kong in 1956 and the second tournament in South Korea in 1960, but has never won the Asian Cup in the 64 years since, overshadowing the nickname "Asia's leader." However, this time, it is considered that it is worth seeking the championship as it has more splendid intentions than any other national team in history. This is because the second term, consisting of Son Heung-min, Hwang Hee-chan and Lee Kang-in, is the best in Asian soccer, and Kim Min-jae, who has become a world-class defender in defense, is holding out. People in the Korean soccer community also predict the final clash with Japan, which is on a roll, defeating Germany 4-1 in the enemy territory. In fact, if both Korea and Japan continue to win the tournament after ranking first in the group stage, they will meet in the final. Attention is focusing on whether Clinsman, who is challenging for the top spot in Asia for the first time in 64 years, will be able to achieve his long-cherished dream while entering the Asian Cup mode in earnest.