By Yoo Jee-ho
SEOUL, April 9 (Yonhap) — Minnesota United forward Jeong Sang-bin will report to the South Korean men’s under-23 national team in Qatar next week in time for the Olympic qualifiers, the sport’s national federation announced Tuesday.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) said Jeong, 22, is scheduled to arrive in Doha at 4:45 p.m. Monday, the eve of South Korea’s first Group B match at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup in the Qatari capital.
In this file photo from Sept. 12, 2023, Jeong Sang-bin of South Korea celebrates a goal by teammate Jeon Byeong-gwan against Myanmar during the teams’ Group B match in the qualification tournament for the 2024 Asian Football Confederation U-23 Asian Cup at Changwon Football Center in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. (Yonhap)
Coached by Hwang Sun-hong, the U-23 South Korean team set up training camp in Dubai last Friday. They’re scheduled to arrive in Qatar on Wednesday.
The AFC tournament, which kicks off on Monday with Group A action, will double as the regional qualifying tournament for the Paris Olympics. The top three teams from the 16-nation tournament will clinch their spots in the Olympics, while the fourth-ranked team will play Guinea in an intercontinental playoff.
South Korea will play out of Group B, and their first match is against the United Arab Emirates next Tuesday, followed by China on April 19 and Japan on April 22.
The top two teams from each of the four groups will advance to the quarterfinals.
Jeong has played six matches for the U-23 team and has a cap with the senior squad. He scored in his senior international debut in a World Cup qualifying match against Sri Lanka in June 2021. He signed with Minnesota in the Major League Soccer in March 2023, after making his professional debut with the K League 1 side Suwon Samsung Bluewings in 2020 and then having a brief stint with the Swiss club Grasshopper from 2022 to 2023.
At the end of March, Hwang called up five players based in overseas leagues to his 23-man squad, but two of them, Celtic FC midfielder Yang Hyun-jun and Brentford FC defender Kim Ji-soo, have been replaced. Their respective clubs declined to release them for the AFC event, which isn’t on the FIFA international match calendar.
Before Jeong, Dusseldorf forward Kim Min-woo joined the national team on Saturday.
This leaves Stoke City midfielder Bae Jun-ho as the last question mark for Hwang, who has previously said he would have to devise a Plan B in case Bae wouldn’t be available. During this season, Bae has been voted Stoke City’s Player of the Month for November, February and March.
South Korea have played at every Olympic men’s football tournament since the under-23 age limit was put in place in 1992.
jeeho@yna.co.kr
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