SEOUL– South Korea’s final roster for this year’s FIFA World Cup will be announced on Nov. 12, a dozen days before the country’s first group stage match in Qatar.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) announced Tuesday that head coach Paulo Bento will unveil his 26-man squad at a press conference on Nov. 12. The exact time and venue will be determined at a later date.
On the eve of that announcement, South Korea will play a friendly match against a yet-to-be-determined opponent. It will serve as a sendoff for the national team before the World Cup, though most of South Korea’s key players based in Europe and elsewhere overseas will not be available for the occasion.
The KFA will announce the team for that sendoff game on Friday.
Bento’s team is scheduled to depart for Doha on a 12:25 a.m. flight on Nov. 14.
South Korea will be playing in their 10th consecutive World Cup. In Group H, they will face Uruguay on Nov. 24, Ghana on Nov. 28 and Portugal on Dec. 2. All three matches will be played at Education City Stadium in Al Rayyan, just west of Doha.
The Taeguk Warriors have made it out of the group stage twice: they reached the semifinals in 2002 as co-hosts of the tournament, and made it to the round of 16 in 2010 in South Africa.
Source: Yonhap News Agency