South Korea's national soccer team head coach Paulo Bento has announced a 28-man squad for the Top 40, which features three former Chinese Super League veterans in Kim Young-gwon, Park Ji-soo and Jung Woo-young, in addition to Kim Min-jae, Son Jun-ho and Kim Shin-wook, three current internationals who are active in the Chinese Super League. Had it not been for Kwon Kyung-won's unfortunate injury in the K2 League's Kimcheon Sangmu performance before the league's opening match at the end of February, and the loss of previous AFC Champions League MVP Yoon Kwang-ha to the squad, the South Korean national team lineup might have featured as many as eight players with Chinese Super League experience. It is worth mentioning that Paulo Bento has coached in Chongqing Contemporary, which makes the South Korean national team has seven players who have left footprints in the Chinese Super League, and its "Chinese style" is quite strong.
Unfortunately, Paulo Bento took office after the Korean national team carried out a large-scale blood change, so that many had played in the Chinese Super League of the former Korean internationals gradually fade out, otherwise the Korean national team of the "Chinese wind" may be more intense.
Paulo Bento recruited a number of South Korean national Olympic team age players during the international competition days in March and June to build up talent for the Tokyo Olympics. In order to do so, he had to give up some older players who have the potential to be international players, and one of those who fell through the cracks this time was last year's AFC Champions League MVP Yoon Kwang-ha. Yoon Kwang Ha scored 4 goals and 3 assists in 8 games in the AFC Champions League last year, 4 goals in 24 games in the K-League, and scored in both games of the Club World Cup. He is still Ulsan Hyundai's main midfielder this season, and has assisted on two goals in their last two matches against rivals Jeonbuk Hyundai and a shutout of Pohang Steelers, but was not selected due to Bento's consideration of leaving more chances for newcomers.
With North Korea withdrawing from the tournament, South Korea are left with only three opponents - Turkmenistan, Sri Lanka and Lebanon - in June's Top 40, which are not too strong and are a good opportunity to train newcomers. Paulo Bento recruited five newcomers and four of the 28-man squad are from the national Olympic team, plus three confirmed over-age national players, for a total of seven, or a quarter of the full quota. Kwon Kyung-won, who had a poor national team competition day in November previous year and was injured before the start of the league season this year, was left out of the squad without a doubt. Kim Shin-wook, Son Jun-ho and Kim Min-jae are national team regulars and, barring injuries, will all make the cut by the end of the year. It was only Kim Min Jae who temporarily left Beijing Guoan to return home to South Korea due to personal matters, and was eventually shortlisted for the 28-man squad after Paulo Bento confirmed he could play.
In addition to the three current Chinese Super League internationals, Kim Young-Gwon, who plays for Gamba Osaka in the J-League, Park Ji-Soo of Suwon FC, a promoted team in the K1 League, and Jung Woo-Young of Qatar's SAD are also familiar faces from the national team of the Paulo Bento era. Kim has been out of Guangzhou Evergrande to join J1 League side Gamba Osaka for more than two years now, and has been an absolute starter for the team in the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Especially in 2020, Osaka Gamba won 20 games, Kim Young-kwon sat in the defense in 17 games, Osaka Gamba fans called "Kim Young-kwon effect". But this season J League due to the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the whole March League Cup postponed, March 25 and the Japanese team in the warm-up match Jin Yingquan thigh injury, and since then has not been recovered, in the Osaka Gamba even completely did not play record. He had to hire a private rehabilitator at his own expense to assist him in speeding up his recovery, and fortunately ended up on Bento's roster.
Park Ji-soo is a bit strange, although in Suwon FC is the absolute main force of the defense line, but this season's performance is very unstable, he led the defense line 16 games conceded 26 goals, of which 3 games conceded 4 goals in a single game, after joining the Suwon FC after the first 3 rounds of the league accumulation of yellow cards were sentenced to death, and gave the opponent 3 penalties. 2-4 Suwon FC lost to Daegu at home at the beginning of May, the 4 goals Park Ji-soo is responsible for directly. On May 21st, Suwon FC was drawn at home by Incheon United, Park Ji-soo gave a handball to the opponent for a penalty kick, and was sent off within 3 minutes after receiving two yellow cards in a row. It's hard to believe that such a poor performance can still be selected for the national team.
The Korean media has also questioned Paulo Bento's selection criteria, with Dong-A Ilbo's sports section arguing that Kim Young-Gwon, Park Ji-Soo and Hong Che should not have been selected due to their athletic status. Kim Young-gwon's only competition this year was the Japan-Korea warm-up match in March, Park Ji-soo is a time bomb in Suwon FC's defense, and Hong Che only made 7 appearances in the first 17 rounds at Ulsan Hyundai, but all 3 have been given unlimited trust by Paulo Bento. Some people think that this is Bento's way of selecting players who trust veterans who understand his tactics, but this is unconvincing as it violates the condition-based theory that Bento has always emphasized.
Compared to Kim Young-gwon and Park Ji-soo, who have sparked a huge controversy, Jung Woo-young, who plays for Qatar's Saad, deserves his place. He is the absolute mainstay of the midfield for the team under Xavi's rule, making 18 appearances in 22 rounds of league matches, and forming Sadd's midfield duo with his compatriot and teammate Nam Tae-hee. He was the main force behind Sadd's league title win, but unfortunately because of the foreign aid quota restriction, Sadd only gave Nam Tae-hee a place in the AFC Champions League, so Jung was only able to participate in the domestic tournament in Qatar. Even so, he is still with excellent performance, with the team won the league and the Emirate Cup, killed the Qatar Cup final, only because of the epidemic outbreak final was postponed, failed to assist the team to realize the domestic tournament three consecutive titles.
The period when Korean foreigners were at their peak in our country was also the period when investment in the Chinese Super League was at its peak. Jang Hyun-soo, Park Jong-woo, Kim Ki-hee, Kim Cho-ryong and Hong Jung-hyun were all South Korean internationals, and Son Jun-ho's brother-in-law, Kim Seung-dae, and Yoon Kwang-ha also received call-ups to the South Korean national team despite playing for Yanbian Fude, one of the poorest clubs in the Chinese Super League. It's just that now that they've both faded from the national team, it's hard to follow them into Paulo Bento's high eyes. First of all, they have no advantage at all in terms of age, and secondly, their condition is also deteriorating.
Kim Seung Dae joined Pohang Steelers after leaving Yanbian Fude in 2017, and joined giants Jeonbuk Hyundai in 2019, but basically had no chance, and was loaned out to Kangwon FC in the K2 League last year.He returned to Jeonbuk Hyundai at the end of his loan this year, despite still being a rotating starter, and his performance was disappointing, swiping just one assist in 12 appearances, while foreign winger Ilyuqinenko had a standout performance of nine goals and two assists just after joining the team. Kim Hyung-il, who spent half a year at Guangzhou Evergrande in 2017 without making an appearance, returned home to join Bucheon FC in the K2 League, and still couldn't get a foothold before heading to the Thai League in 2018.
Hong was loaned to Jeonbuk Hyundai by Jiangsu Suning in 2018 and bought out in 2019. He has been a starter for Jeonbuk Hyundai for two years now, and although he is 31 years old, he is in his prime, and has also started all 15 matches this season and played all 90 minutes, and will not be recruited by the Korean Football Association (KFA) simply because of his age.
The most lamented of these Chinese Super League's former South Korean internationals is Guangzhou R&F's Jang Hyun-soo. Originally a one-and-done with the South Korean national team, but banned for life for falsifying his military service record, he originally left Guangzhou R&F to join FC Tokyo in the J1 League before moving to Riyadh Crescent in the Saudi League in 2019. Despite consistently outstanding performances, Nam Tae-hee and Jung Woo-young, who also play in the Middle East, are national team regulars, while Jang Hyun-soo is left on the sidelines with no possibility of returning to the national team. Previously, Jang Hyun-soo had been the mainstay of the defense in the Korean national team, but this fake military service scandal completely ended his future in the Korean national team and even in the Korean domestic professional league, and he could only go to play overseas.
