SOUTH KOREA v ENGLAND        PREVIEW                              World Cup football home page
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This friendly between South Korea and England is to be played on Tuesday 21 May 2002 at Jeju in South Korea. The England manager, Sven Goran Erikkson has already picked his 23 man provisional squad on 9 May 2002 (which includes the injured David Beckham) and he will have to give his official 23 man squad to FIFA on 21 May 2002 -  click here to see the latest on the David Beckham injury.

 

 

                                                          

                                          

Sven-Goran Eriksson has picked his provisional 23 man squad on 9 May 2002
 (this should be the final squad unless there are any injuries)
 

The 23 man England squad is:
 
                                                        David Seaman
                                                        Nigel Martyn
                                                        David James
 
  Danny Mills                          Sol Campbell                      Rio Ferdinand                 Ashley Cole
  Wes Brown                         Martin Keown                     Gareth Southgate            Wayne Bridge
 
          
 

  David Beckham                    Steven Gerrard **                Paul Scholes                   Kieron Dyer***
  Owen Hargreaves                 Nicky Butt                                                                    Joe Cole
                                                                                                           
 
 
                                       Emile Heskey                     Michael Owen
                                       Robbie Fowler                  Teddy Sheringham
                                       Darius Vassell
 

Click here for more details on the England squad.
                                      

** On May 9, Danny Murphy (midfield) of Liverpool was named as first reserve in case of injury. On May 11, Steven Gerrard (midfield) limped off with a groin injury in Liverpool's last game of the Premiership season - he will not take any part in the World Cup as he needs an operation - see the latest on the Steven Gerrard injury here -  Danny Murphy has therefore taken his place in the squad.

*** Kieron Dyer picked up a knee injury in Newcastle's last Premiership game on May 11 and so Trevor Sinclair was called up on standby - fortunately Dyer's injury is not as bad as first feared - see the latest on the Kieron Dyer injury here
 

With the injuries that England have had recently the England starting line up against South Korea will depend on who is fit, especially in midfield. It is possible that Eriksson will start with his strongest available team. If this is the case, David Seaman would almost certainly start in goal and Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole will probably start in defence. Wes Brown may have the edge over Danny Mills for the right back slot. In midfield, Paul Scholes is uninjured at the moment and should start - will Owen Hargreaves, Danny Murphy and Joe Cole take the other midfield positions or will Nicky Butt have recovered from his injury in time? Emile Heskey and Michael Owen should take the striking positions, unless Eriksson decides to use Heskey on the left wing.


 
                                                               

 

                             
                              The South Korea team photo

South Korea is now managed by Dutchman Guus Hiddink but even though South Korea are the joint hosts of the World Cup 2002, they are not one of the favourites to win it. They may well win their first ever World Cup match with home advantage though and will be looking forward to compare how good they are against the England team. Their forwards Choi Yong-soo, Lee Dong-gook and Hwang Sun-hong will hope to get a goal against England (if selected) although South Korea have not scored many goals until recently. They beat Finland (missing Hyypia and Litmanen) 2-0 in March this year - Hwang Sun-hong got the two goals in the last five minutes of the match.

On 16 May 2002, South Korea defeated Scotland 4-1 in Korea. Chun Soo Lee scored the first goal after 14 minutes when he received a long ball, got past the Scotland goalkeeper, Neil Sullivan and put the ball into the net. Substitute Jung-Hwa Ahn had a good game and got two goals (after 57 and 87 minutes). In between Jung-Hwa Ahn's goals Jong Hwan Yoon scored with a long range shot for South Korea (after 64 minutes) and Scott Dobie got a goal on his debut for Scotland in the 67th minute.

 

See the match report on Tuesday's match here.          

                                            

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Note: This England World Cup 2002 website is also available using  http://clik.to/england