Callin Belho's call to Paju, excluding Park Eun-sun's injury
The women's national team participating in the second Asian qualifying round for the 2024 Paris Olympics was convened at Paju NFC on the morning of the 16th. The second preliminary round of the Olympics will be held in Xiamen, China, from the 26th to the 1st of next month. In the second preliminary round of the Olympics, 12 teams will play in three groups of four teams each.
South Korea will take on North Korea, China and Thailand in Group B. A total of four teams, including the top three teams in each group and one team with good performance, will advance to the final qualifying round and seek two tickets for the Olympic finals allocated to Asia.
It's a formidable task. Unlike men's soccer, Olympic women's soccer does not have an age limit, so the A national team will participate. In women's soccer at the Olympics, which began in Atlanta in 1996, South Korea has never made it to the finals. In the preliminary round for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, he also lost to China in the final playoff and missed the qualification.
The national team will leave for Xiamen, China, where the tournament will be held on the 23rd after a week of training in Paju.
Of the 22 players, 18 were called, except for Lee Young-joo (Madrid CFF), Choi Yuri (Birmingham City), and Lee Geum-min (Brighton), who are overseas players who are joining immediately.
Veteran Park Eun-sun (Seoul City Hall) was replaced by Kim Se-yeon (Yesung Girls' High School) due to a knee injury, and Kim Kyung-hee (Suwon FC) was selected instead of goalkeeper Ryu Ji-soo (Seoul City Hall). Kim Kyung-hee was also unable to join the team on this day due to the current schedule of the National Sports Festival.
Midfielder Lee Min-ah (Incheon Hyundai Steel) was also replaced by indoor training on the first day due to injury.
Coach Bell, who met with reporters after the call-up, said, "North Korea and China in the same group are strong teams," adding, "We will find a way to win against them because the victory or defeat is decided in a small difference."
South Korea was also eliminated from the quarterfinals of the Hangzhou Asian Games after losing 1-4 to North Korea. This time, we have to go past North Korea to head to the finals.
"I am fully aware that the opponent is strong," Bell said. Mentally and physically we need to be stronger too. We will prepare thoroughly to win all games," he stressed.
Casey Eugene Fair, a mixed-race player born in 2007, also made the national team after the women's world cup. Casey Fair was 16 years and 26 days old at the Women's World Cup and played in the first round of Group H, setting the record for the youngest appearance in the Women's World Cup finals.
Casey Fair said, "I was able to have a valuable experience through the World Cup," adding, "Now I will play hard with the goal of advancing to the Olympics for the first time."
Women's national team captain Kim Hye-ri (Incheon Hyundai Steel) also said, "We did not get the results we wanted at the World Cup and Asian Games, but we will not give up and challenge our goal of advancing to the first Olympics."