Korea unveil football squad for World Cup qualifiers in Sept.

South Korea on Monday unveiled the 21-man squad for their final round of Asian qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup next month.

South Korea, ranked 48th in the latest FIFA world rankings, will host No. 78 China at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Sept. 1 and face No. 105 Syria five days later on the road. For the final regional qualification, where 12 teams compete, South Korea are grouped with Iran, Uzbekistan, China, Qatar and Syria in Group A.

Among the 21 players, five have represented South Korea at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics where they were eliminated in the quarterfinals after suffering a 1-0 loss to Honduras. FC Red Bull Salzburg forward Hwang Hee-chan, Tottenham Hotspur attacker Son Heung-min, Trabzonspor striker Suk Hyun-jun, Guangzhou R&F defender Jang Hyun-soo and Suwon Samsung Bluewings midfielder Kwon Chang-hoon were all included on the senior team squad.

Among them, Hwang received his first call-up to the senior team. The 20-year-old has shown an impressive performance with the Olympic football team with his powerful dribble penetration and slick movement. He also scored a goal in South Korea's 3-3 draw against Germany in the group stage of the Olympic football tournament.

"Along with Jang, Hwang was one of the two players who showed consistent performance throughout the Olympics," head coach Uli Stielike said. "China are expected to come up with lockdown defense, but even if there's no space for us, I think Hwang can create good chances with his speed and technique."

Along with Hwang, right back Oh Jae-suk was named to the senior team squad for the first time. He previously received a call up from the national team in March, but was later dropped from the list due to a thigh injury. Stielike said Oh could feature as left back since the 26-year-old recently played at the position with his Japanese club Gamba Osaka.

The German said Son will only start against China as they previously agreed with his English Premier Club for not playing him in both qualifiers. On the other hand, Suk will miss the match against China, but will join the squad for the qualifier against Syria. Suk recently joined the Turkish club Trabzonspor on loan from the Portuguese side FC Porto.

"We thought Suk needs time to adapt to his new club," Stielike said. "We will have to play with 20 players for each match." 

Son, who scored two goals at the Olympics, was criticized by fans for blowing many goal scoring chances against Honduras and being selfish. However, Stielike defended the performance of the 24-year-old.

"Son should have felt a lot of pressure during the Olympics," the coach said. "But he created scoring chances many times and was also good at positioning to get the ball. I don't think it's right to left out the players from the squad just because they didn't perform well in one or two matches."

Stielike said the match against China is important because it's their opener in the final qualifying round.

South Korea have collected 17 wins, 12 draws and one loss against China and their latest encounter at the EAFF East Asian Championship in last August ended in a 2-0 win for the Taeguk Warriors. However, the coach previous warned things will be different because maximum 30,000 Chinese fans could pack Seoul World Cup Stadium. Stielike added that the neighbors are likely to threat South Korea with their counter attacks.

"I hope many South Korean fans visit the stadium and support us," he said. "We will try to balance between offense and defense."

The Korea Football Association said South Korean players will have their first training at the National Football Center in Paju, north of Seoul, next Monday.  (Yonhap)