South Korea opened their domestic training camp for the upcoming continental men’s football tournament Tuesday, setting up shop at a fitness center inside a Seoul hotel for weight training and conditioning drills. With South Korea gearing up for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup that kicks off next month in Qatar, head coach Jurgen Klinsmann called up 16 players for the indoor camp, which will run until New Year’s Eve. Klinsmann will announce his 26-man squad Thursday in Seoul.
South Korea will try to win their first Asian Cup title since 1960.The current camp roster features 11 players from the domestic K League and five players from foreign leagues. The latter group includes national team mainstays, such as Cho Gue-sung of FC Midtjylland in Denmark, Lee Jae-sung of Mainz 05 in Germany and Hwang In-beom of Crvena zvezda in Serbia. Hwang was the only one of the 16 players missing Tuesday. He is scheduled to report to camp Friday, according to the Korea Football Association (KFA).The domestic camp will be closed to the media. A KFA official said the players enjoyed a lighthearted training session Tuesday away from prying eyes of the press, while Klinsmann only watched the proceedings from outside the gym while letting his assistants run the show.
The team will depart for Abu Dhabi next Tuesday to set up pre-Asian Cup camp there. Europe-based stars and no-brainer picks for the final roster, such as Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur, Kim Min-jae of Bayern Munich, Lee Kang-in of Paris Saint-Germain and Hwang Hee-chan of Wolverhampton Wanderers, will join the national team there. South Korea will play their final tuneup match against Iraq in Abu Dhabi on Jan. 6. The kickoff at New York University Abu Dhabi Stadium is at 5 p.m. in Abu Dhabi, or 10 p.m. in Seoul. South Korea will travel to Qatar on Jan. 10.At the Asian Cup, South Korea will play in Group E against Bahrain on Jan. 15, Jordan on Jan. 20 and Malaysia on Jan. 25.Iraq will play in Group D against Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam. If South Korea win their group as expected and Iraq finish in second place in theirs, the two countries will 슬롯게이밍 square off in the round of 16.