Hong Myung-bo Team World Cup Final List 'Mid-May' Announced, Departed from US Pre-Camp Site without Korean Opening Ceremony

*This content was translated by AI.

The list of 26 South Korean national soccer teams to play in the 2026 FIFA 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup will be announced around mid-May.

An official from the Korea Football Association said in Star News on the 9th, "The exact date has not been confirmed, but the final list of 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup will be announced around the third week of May." The final list of this competition will also consist of 26 members, the same as the 2022 Qatar Games.

When the final list of the World Cup is announced, Hong Myung-bo Team will go to the U.S., the pre-camp site, in the fourth week of May, a week later. He is scheduled to enter Mexico, the 'final site' after playing the final warm-up match in the United States for one or two games. South Korea's first match in 2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup is the first Group A match against the Czech Republic at 11 a.m. on June 12 at Guadalajara Stadium in Mexico.

The domestic warm-up match, which used to be held in front of domestic fans ahead of the World Cup, was excluded from the World Cup plan. Earlier, coach Paulo Bento (Portugal) left the country after the announcement of the final list the next day after playing a final warm-up match against Iceland in Korea about two weeks before the World Cup finals, and during the 2018 Russia World Cup led by head coach Shin Tae-yong, he headed to the Austrian pre-camp site after holding a World Cup opening ceremony through an warm-up match with Bosnia-Herzegovina at Jeonju World Cup Stadium.

An official from the Korea Football Association said, "Since there are many overseas players due to the composition of the national team and it belongs to Group A, which is the fastest (game schedule) in the World Cup finals, it is not easy to secure a schedule to leave the country after a warm-up match that combines the opening ceremony in Korea."

In fact, South Korea's first World Cup match schedule is the second fastest in the entire schedule after the opening match between Mexico and South Africa. In the case of Japan, it will head to the finals after a domestic warm-up match against Iceland on May 31, and Japan is in Group F of the group stage, so the schedule for the first World Cup game is three days later than that of South Korea.

Hong Myung-bo Team, which lost 0-4 to Ivory Coast and 0-1 to Austria in the A-match warm-up match in March, must set up a final World Cup list after the warm-up match at the time. Earlier, coach Hong Myung-bo said on his way home after the European warm-up match, "I've finished all the tests. We will select elite members by comprehensively analyzing the data of the players who have played from the final Asian qualifiers for the World Cup to the two consecutive games. "I will be watching the K-League players closely while attending the K-League site," he said.

"The formation of the players has been made a lot. Players who are in a competitive system in some positions have to watch until the end, but I can tell you that the composition has been completed through this away trip to Europe," he said. "From now on, it is most important not to get injured. I'm worried about the injury because it's the end of the season. I also told the players to be careful," he added.

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*This content was translated by AI.