Players on the Korean men's national football team warm up before a training session for the FIFA World Cup at Zions Bank Training Center in Herriman, Utah, Thursday (local time). Yonhap
Korea will play the first of their two friendly matches in their pre-World Cup training camp this weekend in Utah, with the start of the big tournament only days away.
Coached by Hong Myung-bo, world No. 25 Korea will face 102nd-ranked Trinidad and Tobago at BYU South Field in Provo, Utah, on the campus of Brigham Young University, at 7 p.m. Saturday (local time), or 10 a.m. Sunday (Korean time).
The Taegeuk Warriors have been training in Salt Lake City, some 60 kilometers north of Provo, since mid-May in their prep for the World Cup. After Trinidad and Tobago, Korea will take on El Salvador at the same venue at 7 p.m. next Wednesday (local time), or 10 a.m. Thursday (Korean time).
Korea will then travel to the Mexican city of Guadalajara, the site of their World Cup base camp and two of their three Group A matches. Korea will kick off the World Cup against Czechia there on June 11.
On paper, Korea should have little trouble getting past Trinidad and Tobago, who did not qualify for the World Cup. The focus will likely be on how well Korean players adjust to playing at the high altitude of Utah, rather than whether Korea can beat the underdogs.
The Korea Football Association chose to train in Salt Lake City before the World Cup to help prepare the players for unfamiliar conditions in the high altitude of Guadalajara. Hong recently noted that Korea might have been able to schedule a match against a better team in a different place, but he wanted to stay in Utah. The coach also opined that it would have been "inefficient" for his team to travel to another city just to play a team ranked higher than Trinidad and Tobago.
The Korean camp opened May 18 with just a few players of the 26-man squad on hand — six from the K League and three from the second-tier English league. It will bear watching if members of that group, having had more time than other Europe-based players to get acclimated to the high altitude, get the bulk of opportunities against Trinidad and Tobago.
Among those who reported to camp later, Feyenoord midfielder Hwang In-beom may see action to shake off some rust as he works his way back from an ankle injury.
The injury knocked Hwang out of the rest of his Dutch league season in March, but he has been working with the national team medical staff in hopes of getting ready for the World Cup. Hwang recently claimed he is nearly back to full health, and he has to get his match sharpness back ahead of the big competition.
Source: Korea Times News
