South Korea national team head coach Paulo Bento has announced his 28-man squad for the Top 40, which includes three old favorites from the Chinese Super League era: Kim Young-won, Park Ji-soo, and Jung Woo-young, in addition to three players playing in the Chinese Super League: Kim Min-jae, Son Jun-ho, and Kim Shin-wook. Had it not been for Kwon's accidental injury while playing for Kimcheon Sangmu in the K2 League at the end of February, and the loss of last year's AFC Champions League MVP, Yoon Kwang-ha, the South Korean national team might have had eight players with CSL experience. Together with Bento, who coached at Chongqing Contemporary, the South Korean national team has a total of seven players who have left their footprints in the Chinese Super League, making for a strong "Chinese flavor" in the national team.
Unfortunately, Bento took office after the South Korean national team carried out a large-scale personnel adjustments, so that many former South Korean footballers once played in the Chinese Super League gradually faded out of the national team, otherwise "Chinese flavor" may be more intense.
Bento recruited a number of South Korean national Olympic-age players on international days in March and June, aiming to stockpile talent for the Tokyo Olympics. As a result, he had to give up some players who are older but still have the potential to become internationals, such as Yoon Kwang-ha, last season's AFC Champions League MVP who has been performing well in the K-League this season. Yoon Kwang Ha made a name for himself by contributing 4 goals and 3 assists in 8 matches in the AFC Champions League last year, and also had a stellar K-League season with 4 goals in 24 matches, and scored in both matches of the Club World Cup. He remains Ulsan Hyundai's starting midfielder this season but failed to make the national team, a decision made by Bento to give the newcomer more opportunities.
With North Korea withdrawing from the tournament, South Korea face only three not-so-strong opponents in Turkmenistan, Sri Lanka and Lebanon in June's 40-team tournament, making it a perfect opportunity to work on newcomers. Bento recruited five newcomers and the 28-man squad includes four national Olympic team players, plus three confirmed overage national Olympic players, for a total of seven players, or a quarter of the total number of places. Kwon Gyeong reasonably fell out of the list due to poor national team matchday performances and an injury before the start of the league campaign. Kim Shin-wook, Son Jun-ho and Kim Min-jae are regulars on the national team and, barring injuries, have a chance to make the cut at the end of the year. It's worth noting that Kim Min Jae temporarily left Beijing Guoan to return to South Korea due to a personal matter, and was eventually able to participate with Paulo Bento's confirmation that he managed to make the 28-man shortlist.
In addition to the three current Chinese Super League players, Kim Young-Gwon, who plays for Gamba Osaka in the J-League, Park Ji-Soo of promoted Suwon FC 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 with J1 League side Gamba Osaka for more than two years since leaving Guangzhou Evergrande and has been a mainstay of the team in the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Especially in 2020, Gamba Osaka won 20 matches, Kim Young Kwon sat in the defense in 17 matches, which was known as the "Kim Young Kwon effect" by fans. However, this season, due to the Shinkansen epidemic, the League Cup was postponed for the whole of March, and Kim suffered a thigh injury in the warm-up match against Japan on March 25, and has not recovered since then, and has not even made a record of appearances for Gamba Osaka. 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's situation is a bit delicate, despite being the mainstay of Suwon FC's defense, his performance this season has been very unstable, the defense he led conceded 26 goals in 16 games, including 3 games in a single game conceded 4 goals, and after joining Suwon FC in the first three rounds of the league, he was sent off for accumulating yellow cards consecutively, and gave away 3 penalties to the opponents. Park was directly responsible for 3 of the 4 goals conceded in Suwon's 2-4 loss to Daegu in early May, and on May 21st, when Suwon were held to a draw at home by Incheon United, he was sent off for handballing a penalty to the opposition, and was given two yellow cards in three minutes. It's hard to understand how such a poor performance can still be selected for the national team.
The Korean media have also questioned Paulo Bento's selection criteria, with the Dong-A Ilbo sports section arguing that Kim Young-Gwon, Park Ji-Soo and Hong Che should not have been included in the squad in terms of their athletic form. Kim Young-Gwon's only involvement in a competition this year was the Japan-Korea warm-up match in March, Park Ji-Soo is a ticking time bomb in Suwon FC's defense, and Hong Che has only made seven appearances in the first 17 rounds at Ulsan Hyundai, yet all three have been given Paulo Bento's trust. Some people think that Bento trusts the veterans who know his tactics more, but it is hard to believe that this contradicts Bento's constant emphasis on the "form theory".
Compared to Kim Young-gwon and Park Ji-soo, who have caused a lot of controversy, Jung Woo-young, who plays for Qatar's Sadd, deserves his place. He was the mainstay of the team's midfield under Xavi, making 18 appearances in 22 rounds of league matches, and forming the twin axes of Sadd's midfield along with his compatriot and teammate Nam Tae-hee. He was the mainstay of Sadd's league title-winning team, but unfortunately, due to foreign aid quota restrictions, Sadd only enrolled Nam Tae-hee in the AFC Champions League, so Jung could only participate in Qatar's domestic tournaments. Even so, he 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 help the team to realize the domestic tournament for the third consecutive title.
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-ho were all South Korean internationals, and Son Jun-ho's brother-in-laws 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 weakest clubs in the Chinese Super League. But now that they have both faded from the national team, it's hard to get back into Paulo Bento's sights. Firstly, they are completely outclassed in terms of age, and secondly, their form is also declining.
Kim Seung Dae joined Pohang Steelers after leaving Yanbian Fude in 2017, and joined giants Jeonbuk Hyundai in 2019, but basically didn't have a chance, and was loaned out to Gangwon FC in the K2 League last year.He returned to Jeonbuk Hyundai at the end of his loan this year, and although he was still a rotating starter, his performance was disappointing, contributing only one assist in 12 appearances, while foreign winger Ilyuqinenko had a stellar performance of nine goals and two assists just after he joined 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 and played all 90 minutes this season, only that he will not be recruited by the Korean Football Association due to his age.
Among these South Korean internationals from the Chinese Super League era, the most deplorable is Guangzhou R&F's Jang Hyun-soo. Originally banned from the South Korean national team for life for falsifying his military service record after a smooth ride, 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 South Korean national team, but this fake military service scandal has completely cut short his future in the South Korean national team and even the South Korean domestic professional league, and he can only go overseas to play football.
