South Korea announced their women's football squad for the Asian Games on Tuesday, dropping foreign-based players from the recent FIFA Women's World Cup in favor of domestic league stars.
The Korea Football Association (KFA) said head coach Colin Bell will be taking 22 players from the WK League to Hangzhou for the Asian Games. Unlike the men's tournament, there is no age restriction in the women's competition.
Most of the players who competed at the Women's World Cup in Australia earlier this month will be back. However, Bell did not call up Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Lee Geum-min, Madrid CFF defender Lee Young-ju and half-Korean teenager Casey Yujin Phair of the U.S.-based Players Development Academy. Free agent midfielder Cho So-hyun didn't make the Asiad squad, either, while goalkeeper Yoon Younggeul retired after the World Cup.
Asian Games matches aren't part of the FIFA international calendar, and clubs aren't obligated to release their players.
Veteran midfielder Lee Min-a is back on the national team for the first time since December last year. The 31-year-old, who has earned 76 caps, had been sidelined with a knee injury.
Three players who were cut at the final World Cup training camp earned callups this time: forward Lee Eun-young, forward Mun Eun-ju and goalkeeper Choi Ye-seul.
The KFA also announced that assistant coach Matt Ross will not be brought back to the staff after his contract expired following the World Cup. He had been by Bell's side since December 2019. Other members of the coaching staff, including assistant Park Yoon-jung, will stay on board for the Asian Games.
The Asian Games team will report to training camp at the National Football Center in Paju, north of Seoul, on Sept. 5 and then leave for China on Sept. 19.
There will be 17 teams in the women's event: three teams each in Groups A, B and C, and four teams each in Groups D and E. The five group winners and the three best runners-up will move on to the quarterfinals.
South Korea will play Myanmar on Sept. 22, the Philippines on Sept. 25 and Hong Kong on Sept. 28 in Group E -- all of them at Wenzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium in Wenzhou, south of Hangzhou.
South Korea have won three consecutive bronze medals, from 2010 to 2018.
Source: Yonhap News Agency