Hong Myung-bo, who will begin his journey to the 2026 World Cup in North Korea and the U.S., focused on recovery ahead of the match against Palestine.
Korean men’s national soccer team players gathered at Goyang Stadium ahead of two consecutive A-matches in September. Team Korea will play the first and second games of Group B of the Asian qualifiers for the 2026 North-China World Cup against Palestine at Seoul World Cup Stadium on September 5 and Oman at Muscat Sultan Qaboos Stadium in Oman on October 10.
A total of 19 players were called up for training on the day. Twelve K-League players, Lee Jae-sung (Mainz 05) and Um Ji-sung (Swansea City), Jo Yu-min (Sharja), Jeong Seung-hyeon (Alwasl), Park Yong-woo (Al Ain), and Oh Se-hoon (Machida Gelbia) and Song Bum-keun (Shonan Belmare), who played Saturday’s game in Europe, appeared at Goyang Stadium.
Among the players who played on Saturday, Hwang Hee-chan (Wolverhampton Wanderers) will arrive in Korea on Saturday. Son Heung-min (Tottenham Hotspur), Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), Lee Han-bum (Mit Willan), and Seol Young-woo (Trvenazvezda), who played on Sunday, will also join the national team on Sunday.
Most of the 19 players who participated in the training focused on recovery. Only four players who did not play on weekends, namely Joo Min-kyu (Ulsan HD), Song Bum-keun, Jung Seung-hyun and Park Yong-woo, participated in the training in earnest. All other players who returned from weekend training focused on recovery and physical condition. The move is quite unusual in that the players who did not play on Sunday in the K-League also put weight on recovery.
Chances are high that Hong will put his capabilities into recovery rather than tactics and teamwork in Thursday’s training session. Considering that most of the players from overseas leagues, who are the main players of the national team, will convene on Friday, the team has postponed the start of the training session to 7 p.m. Hong will play an A-match for the first time in 10 years after his return to the national team, so he will need time to communicate with the players besides training, and recovery sessions will likely be the main focus during the training session.
Hong also mentioned that rest and recovery are the most important part of the national team’s schedule. “How many days the main players can rest greatly affects the team’s performance,” he told reporters before Sunday’s training. “As our main players will arrive on Thursday, they will have to train and play for one day on Wednesday,” he said. “If we say we have a lot of players, we will think about how to adjust our conditions in the Middle East and prepare for the World Cup with the rest of the players.” Recovery is more important than anything else for the national team’s performance and physical stamina. 메이저놀이터
Team Hong Myung-bo was paired with Palestine, Oman, Jordan, Iraq and Kuwait in the third Asian qualifying round for the World Cup. It is true that the team dominated in terms of power performance, but since they are all Middle Eastern countries, away trips are burdensome. Since Hong also recognized this, he is focusing on managing the players’ conditions rather than overstating them, even though it is his first match to return to the national team. Chances are high that such training patterns will be repeated throughout the third Asian qualifying round.