We're going to Paris as a 'one team'"

Candidate list ahead of the Paris Olympics preliminaries opening on the 15th

Director Hwang Seon-hong

"Lionel Messi (Miami) won the World Cup by running 7 km, but Argentina would not have won if other players such as Rodrigo Depol (Atletico Madrid) had not joined in."

Coach Hwang Seon-hong began the challenge of advancing to the Olympic finals for the 10th consecutive time, emphasizing the spirit of ‘one team, one goal’ (one team, one goal).

The Korean national under-23 (U-23) soccer team, led by Coach Hwang, began domestic training at Icheon Sports Complex in Gyeonggi-do on the 1st in preparation for the 2024 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup, which opens in Doha, Qatar on the 15th. .

A ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics finals is at stake in this competition. Those in the top three will advance directly to Paris, while fourth place must go through the playoffs.

If Korean soccer wins a ticket to Paris this time, it will become the first in the world to advance to the Olympic finals for the 10th consecutive time.

Coach Hwang met with reporters before training and said, "It will be a very difficult competition, but I will work hard with the players and prepare to achieve our goal and come back."

They face tough opponents from the group stage. In Group B, they will face the United Arab Emirates (UAE), China, and Japan in turn.

Coach Hwang said, "Anyway, there is no easy team among the 16 participating countries. There are no easy games in soccer, and whichever team we face depends on how we prepare. The players have a very strong will to participate in the Olympics. I believe it. “I will work together with the coaches to take on the challenge,” he said.

Coach Hwang emphasized ‘one team’ several times. He served as the temporary head coach of the A national team, which was greatly shaken by the 'low-end incident', and played an easy two-game series (1 win, 1 draw) in the 2026 North and Central America World Cup Asia 2nd qualifier against Thailand last month, providing an opportunity for a 'restart' and leading the U-23 national team. returned to

Coach Hwang said, "(Compared to last year's Hangzhou Asian Games national team), individual skills may be a bit lacking, but I think we can become stronger as a team," and added, "We need to use that as our advantage."

He said, “(We had a meeting before showing up for training) and told the players that the most important thing is to work together one step at a time.” He added, “I will try to have fun. I have to radiate that kind of energy so that the players can also have fun.” “I will give it a try,” he said emphatically.

Although the performance and will of all players will be important in achieving the goal of winning, it is clearly a 'variable' whether the five overseas players, including Bae Jun-ho (Stoke City), Yang Hyun-jun (Celtic), and Kim Ji-su (Brentford), who are the national team's key resources, join the team. .

Coach Hwang met with reporters prior to training that day and said, "There are many variables, but I will still prepare with hope. I think I will have to think about 'Plan B' as well."

In particular, Bae Jun-ho returned early after failing to play in the final at the request of his team at the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) U-23 Championship held just before.

When asked about the possibility that Bae Jun-ho may leave this tournament early at the request of his team, Coach Hwang replied, "It is difficult to give a definite answer yet. We are still waiting for an answer. Shouldn't we think with hope?"

Meanwhile, when asked about what is required for the next official head coach of the National Team A, Coach Hwang said, "It's not something I can tell you. I think the technical committee (National Team Strengthening Committee) will make a good choice. I will work with our players and the next team." “We have to move forward one step at a time toward our goal,” he said. 스포츠토토맨