Soccer World Cup 2014 / South Korea

This article covers the South Korean national soccer team at the 2014 World Cup . South Korea took part in the finals for the ninth time and for the first time in a finals in South America . Of all Asian teams, South Korea qualified for the finals the most frequently and has been in it continuously since 1986. Like all Asian teams, South Korea was eliminated in the preliminary round.

qualification

South Korea began the qualification under coach Cho Kwang-rae in the third qualifying round, scoring in Group B on Lebanon , Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates and qualified along with the group Second Lebanon for the fourth round. After a good start, South Korea lost to Lebanon for the first time in the penultimate group game, whereupon Cho was dismissed and replaced by Choi Kang-hee , who only wanted to look after the team until the end of the qualification.

In the fourth round, groups were played again, but the teams were only divided into two groups of five teams each. In Group A , South Korea finished second behind the equally qualified team from Iran, ahead of Uzbekistan , Qatar and again Lebanon and qualified for Brazil. The qualification was made perfect on the last day of the match despite a 0-1 win against Iran, as Uzbekistan scored two goals too few in the 5-1 win against Qatar. The Uzbek team, placed third due to the poorer goal difference, could not prevail against Jordan in the fifth round and thus not qualify for the intercontinental playoffs against Uruguay. After the successful qualification, Choi resigned as agreed. He was succeeded by Hong Myung-bo , under whom the Olympic team won the bronze medal in 2012.

Third round

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	South Korea	6th	4th	1	1	014: 400	+10	13
2.	Lebanon	6th	3	1	2	010:140	−4	10
3.	Kuwait	6th	2	2	2	008: 900	−1	08th
4th	United Arab Emirates	6th	1	0	5	009:140	−5	03

Game results

date	place	Home team	-	guest	Result	Goal scorers for South Korea
02.09.2011	Goyang	South Korea	-	Lebanon	6: 0 (2: 0)	Park (8th, 45th + 1, 67 '), Ji (66th, 85th), Kim J.-w. (82.)
09/06/2011	Kuwait City ( KUW )	Kuwait	-	South Korea	1: 1 (0: 1)	Park (9.)
10/11/2011	Suwon	South Korea	-	UAE	2: 1 (0: 0)	Park (55.), Al Kamali (64./ET)
11/11/2011	Dubai ( UAE )	UAE	-	South Korea	0: 2 (0: 0)	Lee K.-h. (88th), Park (90th + 3)
11/15/2011	Beirut ( LBN )	Lebanon	-	South Korea	2: 1 (2: 1)	Koo (20.)
02/29/2012	Seoul	South Korea	-	Kuwait	2: 0 (0: 0)	Lee D.-g. (65.), Lee K.-h. (71.)

Fourth round

Pl.	team	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Iran	8th	5	1	2	008: 200	+6	16
2.	South Korea	8th	4th	2	2	013: 700	+6	14th
3.	Uzbekistan	8th	4th	2	2	011: 600	+5	14th
4th	Qatar	8th	2	1	5	005:130	−8	07th
5.	Lebanon	8th	1	2	5	003:120	−9	05

Game results

date	place	Home team	-	guest	Result	Goal scorers for South Korea
06/08/2012	Doha ( QAT )	Qatar	-	South Korea	1: 4 (1: 1)	Lee K.-h. (26., 80.), Kwak (55.), Kim S.-w. (64.)
06/12/2012	Goyang	South Korea	-	Lebanon	3: 0 (1: 0)	Kim B.-k. (30., 48,), Koo (90.)
09/11/2012	Tashkent ( UZB )	Uzbekistan	-	South Korea	2: 2 (1: 1)	Filiposyan (44./ET), Lee D.-g. (57.)
10/16/2012	Tehran ( IRN )	Iran	-	South Korea	1: 0 (1: 0)
03/26/2013	Seoul	South Korea	-	Qatar	2: 1 (0: 0)	Lee K.-h. (60.), Sun (90. + 6)
06/04/2013	Beirut ( LBN )	Lebanon	-	South Korea	1: 1 (1: 0)	Kim C.-w. (90. + 6)
06/11/2013	Seoul	South Korea	-	Uzbekistan	1: 0 (1: 0)	Shorakhmedov (43rd / ET)
06/18/2013	Ulsan ( KOR )	South Korea	-	Iran	0: 1 (0: 0)

A total of 46 players were used, which means that South Korea and Mexico used the most players of all qualified teams. Only goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong took part in all the games. The top scorers were Park Chu-young with six goals, who was only used in seven games, and Lee Keun-ho with five goals, who was the most frequently used field player with 12 games. Another nine players contributed the rest. South Korea also benefited from three own goals by opposing players, with the own goal by Akmal Shorakhmedov in particular being a decisive factor in qualifying.

preparation

On January 25, South Korea played in Los Angeles against Costa Rica , won 1-0 and lost 4-0 to Mexico in San Antonio on January 29 and 2-0 to the USA on February 1, 2014 in Carson , where but no players operating in Europe were used. A test match on March 5 in Piraeus against Greece , which also back in the Bundesliga and the Premier League came Player active used was loaded with 2: 0 (scorers: Park and Son ) and on May 26 was held in Seoul a Game against Tunisia , which was lost 0-1. A last test match in Miami against World Cup participants Ghana on June 9, 2014 was lost 4-0.

Squad

On May 8, 2014, the preliminary roster was named, which was then reduced to 23 players. Seven players were also in the squad for the last World Cup when South Korea was eliminated in the round of 16.

No.	player	Club before the start of the World Cup	International matches *	Länderspiel- gates *	Date of birth	Games	Gates				World Cup participation	World Cup games (before 2014)	World Cup goals (before 2014)
goalkeeper
01	Jung Sung-ryong	Suwon Bluewings	061	00	4th January 1985	2	0	0	0	0	2010	4th	0
21st	Kim Seung-gyu	Ulsan Hyundai	005	00	September 30, 1990	1	0	0	0	0
23	Lee Bum-young	Busan IPark	000	00	April 2, 1989	0	0	0	0	0
Defense
20th	Hong Jeong-ho	FC Augsburg	025th	01	August 12, 1989	3	0	1	0	0
06th	Hwang Seok-ho	Sanfrecce Hiroshima M *	004th	00	June 27, 1989	1	0	0	0	0
02	Kim Chang-soo	Kashiwa Reysol	009	00	September 12, 1985	0	0	0	0	0
05	Kim Young-gwon	Guangzhou Evergrande M *	021st	01	February 27, 1990	2	0	0	0	0
04th	Kwak Tae-hwi	Al-Hilal	035	05	July 8, 1981	0	0	0	0	0
12	Lee Yong	Ulsan Hyundai	011	00	December 24, 1986	3	0	1	0	0
22nd	Park Joo-ho	1. FSV Mainz 05	014th	00	January 16, 1987	0	0	0	0	0
03	Yun Suk-young	Queens Park Rangers *	004th	00	February 13, 1990	3	0	0	0	0
midfield
08th	Ha Dae-sung	Beijing Guoan	013	00	March 2, 1985	0	0	0	0	0
14th	Han Kook-young	Kashiwa Reysol	010	00	April 19, 1990	3	0	1	0	0
16	Ki Sung-yong	Sunderland AFC	059	05	January 24, 1989	3	0	1	0	0	2010	4th	0
07th	Kim Bo-kyung	Cardiff City A, #	028	03	October 6, 1989	2	0	0	0	0	2010	0	0
13	Koo Ja-cheol	1. FSV Mainz 05	037	12	February 27, 1989	3	1	1	0	0
17th	Lee Chung-yong	Bolton Wanderers *	055	06th	July 2nd, 1988	3	0	0	0	0	2010	4th	2
15th	Jong-woo Park	Guangzhou R&F FC	010	00	March 10, 1988	0	0	0	0	0
09	Son Heung-min	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	025th	06th	July 8, 1992	3	1	1	0	0
attack
19th	Ji Dong-won	FC Augsburg	028	08th	May 28, 1991	2	0	0	0	0
18th	Kim Shin-wook	Ulsan Hyundai	026th	03	April 14, 1988	2	0	0	0	0	2010	4th	0
11	Lee Keun-ho	Sangju Sangmu M2 *	064	18th	April 11, 1985	3	1	0	0	0
10	Park Chu-young	Watford FC *	064	24	July 10, 1985	2	0	0	0	0	2006	1	0
Coaching staff
	Hong Myung-bo	Trainer	135	9	February 12, 1969						1990, 1994, 1998, 2002	16	2
	Kim Tae-young	Assistant coach	104	3	February 12, 1969						1998, 2002	10	0
	Kim Bong-soo	Goalkeeping coach	014th	0	4th December 1970
	Ikeda Seigo	Fitness trainer			December 16, 1960
(*) only the games and goals that were played or scored before the start of the World Cup are given ( source (as of May 16, 2014) , updated after the games against Tunisia and Ghana on June 9, 2014 )
↑ M = The club was champion of its country in the 2013/14 season, M * = The club was champion of its country in the 2013 season (the current season is still running), M2 * = The club was champion of the second highest in the 2013 season League of his country (the current season of the highest league is still running), A = The club was relegated from the highest league in the country, * = The club plays in the second highest league in its country, # = The C club played in the highest English league . ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l As a player

Finals

Group stage

Cuiabá Porto Alegre São Paulo Foz do Iguaçu

Venues (red) and quarters (blue)

In the draw for the final round on December 6, 2013, South Korea was drawn into Group H with Belgium (group head), Algeria and Russia. The only game against Russia was played a few days before the draw and lost 2-1 in Dubai . There were three previous games against Belgium, including a 2-0 win in the 1990 World Cup preliminary round and a 1-1 draw in the 1998 World Cup preliminary round. The other game was lost 2-1. Against Algeria, there was only one game counted by FIFA, which was won 2-0 in 1985. South Korea had never played in Brazil before the World Cup.

The team's quarters were the Bourbon Cataratas Convention & Spa Resort in Foz do Iguaçu , near the Iguazú Falls .

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Belgium	3	3	0	0	004: 100	+3	09
2.	Algeria	3	1	1	1	006: 500	+1	04th
3.	Russia	3	0	2	1	002: 300	−1	02
4th	South Korea	3	0	1	2	003: 600	−3	01

• Tue., June 17, 2014, 6:00 p.m. (June 18, 2014, 00:00 a.m. CEST) in Cuiabá Russia - South Korea 1: 1 (0: 0)
  
• Sun., June 22, 2014, 4:00 p.m. (9:00 p.m. CEST) in Porto Alegre South Korea - Algeria 2: 4 (0: 3)
  
• Thursday, June 26, 2014, 5:00 p.m. (10:00 p.m. CEST) in São Paulo South Korea - Belgium 0: 1 (0: 0)
  

Sports impact

Although South Korea lost 46 points in the FIFA world rankings , they managed to improve by one place to 56th despite being out of the preliminary round.

Resignations

Coach Hong Myung-bo resigned after the World Cup. The former German national player and national team co-trainer Uli Stielike took over his position .

Web links

• All South Korea qualifiers
• All matches of the preliminary round at a glance

Individual evidence

1. ↑ fifa.com: "Korea Republic wins against Costa Rica"
2. ↑ kicker.de: "South Korea: National coach Hong names Kader Son leads Bundesliga quartet"
3. ↑ fifa.com: team quarters
4. ↑ fifa.com: "World Champion Germany takes over the top position"