The South Korea Under-24 National Team (U-24) soccer team, which will attempt to win its third consecutive title at the Hangzhou Asian Games, has unveiled its squad ahead of its first match.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) released the jersey numbers of the 22 men’s soccer players competing at the Hangzhou Asian Games on its website and social media accounts on Monday.
Ace Lee Kang-in will wear No. 18 at the tournament, where the rules allow for numbers 1 through 22. It’s the same number he wore during last year’s World Cup in Qatar, and it’s the one he still wears with the A team. Lee wears the number 19 for his club, Paris Saint-Germain (France).
Captain Baek Seung-ho (Jeonbuk) kept the number 8, which he has worn for both his club and national teams. His eldest brother, Park Jin-seop (Jeonbuk), who joined him as a wildcard (an exception to the age limit), kept the number 4 he wears with his club. Another wildcard, Seol Young-woo (Ulsan), was assigned the number 19.
Cho Young-wook (Gimcheon), who has played a total of 78 matches for the national team in each age group, has been awarded the number 10 shirt. Europeans Jung Woo-young (Stuttgart) is number seven, while Hong Hyun-seok (Ghent) and Park Kyu-hyun (Dresden) are number six and 22, respectively.
Second-choice striker Uhm Won-sang (Ulsan) is number 11, Song Min-gyu (Jeonbuk) is number 17, and Ko Young-joon (Pohang) is number 13. Strikers Park Jae-yong (Jeonbuk) and Ahn Jae-joon (Bucheon) wear numbers 9 and 20, respectively.
In defense, Lee Han-beom (Meatwillan) wears the number 14 and Lee Jae-ik (Seoul Eland) wears the number 5. Among the goalkeepers, Lee Kwang-yeon (Gangwon) wears the number 1, while Min Sung-joon (Incheon) and Kim Jung-hoon (Jeonbuk) wear the numbers 12 and 21, respectively.
South Korea has won back-to-back gold medals at the tournament in Incheon in 2014 and Jakarta-Palembang in 2018. Hwang Sun-hong will be looking to make it three in a row with a win at the tournament and is currently in the final warm-up in Jinhua, Zhejiang, China, where he will play his group stage match.
The first game is at 8:30pm on the 19th against Kuwait. They will then face Thailand on the 21st and Bahrain on the 24th. The first- and second-place 토토사이트 finishers will advance directly to the round of 16, while the third-place finishers will qualify for the round of 16 if they are among the top four teams in their respective groups.
In a press conference prior to the match against Kuwait, Hwang Sun-hong, the head coach of the team, referenced the old saying “pabu chimzu” (breaking the pot to cook the rice and sinking the boat to return home) from the Chinese historical book Journey to the West. “I know how difficult and long a journey it is to win three consecutive Asian Games titles,” he said, adding, “With the spirit of Pabu Chimjoo, I will do everything in my power to achieve my goal and return home.”