South Korea national team manager Paulo Bento has announced his 28-man squad for the Top 40, which features three old Chinese Super League players - Kim Young-gwon, Park Ji-soo, and Jung Woo-young - in addition to Kim Min-jae, Son Jun-ho, and Kim Shin-wook, all of whom play in the Chinese Super League. If Kwon Kyung-won hadn't been injured at Kimcheon Sangmu in the K2 League, last year's AFC Champions League MVP Yoon Kwang-ha might have been selected as well, then the number of CSL-experienced players in the Korean national team might have increased to eight. Together with Bento, who coached at Chongqing Contemporary, the Korean national team has seven players who have left their footprints in the Chinese Super League, which is indeed a strong "Chinese flavor".
Unfortunately, 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 international players gradually fade out, otherwise the Korean national team's "Chinese style" may be more intense.
Bento has recruited a number of South Korean national Olympic team age players on international days in both March and June to stockpile talent for the Tokyo Olympics. To do so, he had to give up some older players with international potential, including last year's AFC Champions League MVP Yoon Kwang-ha. Yoon Gwang-ha scored 4 goals and contributed 3 assists in 8 matches in the AFC Champions League last year, and 4 goals in 24 matches in the K-League, as well as scoring in both Club World Cup matches. He is still Ulsan Hyundai's main midfielder this season, assisting on two goals in the last two matches against rivals Jeonbuk Hyundai and shutting out Pohang Steelers, but was not selected for the national team because Bento was considering giving more chances to newcomers.
Due to North Korea's withdrawal from the tournament, South Korea's only three remaining opponents for the June 40 tournament, Turkmenistan, Sri Lanka and Lebanon, are not very strong, which is a good opportunity to train newcomers. Bento has recruited five newcomers, with four national Olympic team players in the 28-man squad, plus three confirmed overage national Olympic players, for a total of seven, taking up a quarter of all the spots. Kwon Kyung-won, who had a poor performance in the national team matches in November last year, and was injured before the start of this year's league matches, has no suspense in falling out of the squad. Kim Shin-wook, Son Jun-ho, and Kim Min-jae are national team regulars who, barring injuries, make the cut at the end of the year. Only Kim Min Jae temporarily left Beijing Guoan to return home to South Korea due to personal matters, and finally after Bento's confirmation to be able to participate in the 28-man shortlist.
In addition to the three current Chinese Super League internationals, Kim Young-gwon, who played for Gamba Osaka in the J-League, Park Ji-soo of K1 League promotion rivals Suwon FC, and Jung Woo-young of Qatar's Saad are also familiar faces from the national team in the Bento era. Kim left Guangzhou Evergrande to join J1 League side Gamba Osaka more than two years ago and has been a mainstay of the team for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Especially in 2020, Osaka Gamba won 20 games, Kim Young-gwon sat in the defense of 17 games, Osaka Gamba fans called "Kim Young-gwon 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's situation is a bit puzzling, despite being the mainstay of Suwon FC's defense, his performance this season has been very unstable, with his defense conceding 26 goals in 16 matches, 3 of which conceded 4 goals in a single match, and he was sent off for accumulating yellow cards and giving away 3 penalties in the first 3 rounds of the league after joining Suwon FC. Park was directly responsible for 3 of the 4 goals conceded in Suwon FC's 2-4 home loss to Daegu in early May, and on May 21st, when Suwon FC was held to a draw at home by Incheon United, Park was sent off for handballing a penalty kick to the opponent, and was sent off for two consecutive yellow cards in 3 minutes. It is unbelievable that such a poor performance can still be selected for the national team.
The Korean media also questioned Bento's selection criteria this time around, with Dong-A Ilbo's sports section arguing that Kim Young-gwon, Park Ji-soo and Hong Che should not have been selected in terms of their athleticism. 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, yet all 3 have Bento's unlimited trust. Some people think this is Bento's way of selecting players who trust veterans who understand his tactics, but this is unconvincing as it violates Bento's constant emphasis on the status-only theory.
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 main midfielder of the team under Harvey's rule, making 18 appearances in 22 rounds of league matches, and constitutes the double axle of Sadd's midfield with his compatriot teammate Nam Tae-hee. He was the mainstay of Sadd's league title-winning team, but unfortunately, because of the foreign aid quota restriction, Sadd only gave Nam Tae-hee a place in the AFC Champions League, so Jung could only 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-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 poorest clubs in the Premier League. It's just that now that they've both faded from the national team, it's hard to follow them into Bento's high eyes. Firstly, their age is not an advantage at all, and secondly, their form is also on the wane.
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, and despite still being a rotating starter, 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 six months at Guangzhou Evergrande in 2017 without appearing, returned home to join Bucheon FC in the K2 League, still unable to get his feet wet, 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.
The most lamented of these Chinese Super League's erstwhile 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 his outstanding performance since the beginning, Nam Tae-hee and Jung Woo-young, who also play in the Middle East, are national team regulars, while Jang Hyun-soo can only watch from the sidelines, with no possibility of returning to the national team. Previously, Jang Hyun-soo had been a mainstay of the Korean national team's defense, but the fake military service scandal completely ended his future in the Korean national team and even in the Korean domestic professional league, and he had to go overseas to play soccer.
