A new history of soccer! Coach Hong Myung-bo was selected for the first time as a mixed-race Jens Castro in September, Son Heung-min → Lee Kang-in → Kim Min-jae joined
Aug 25, 2025
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South Korea's national soccer A team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, will take a strong first step toward the North Korea-China World Cup. Coach Hong Myung-bo announced the list of the A team that will play two straight A matches in September at the Korea Football Center in Sinmun-ro, Seoul on the 25th. Korea will play two warm-up matches against the U.S. (6 a.m. on September 7) and Mexico (10 a.m. on September 10).
Hong picked Kastrov. He became the first foreign-born mixed-race player to join the A national team. There were Jang Dae-il (retired) and Kang Soo-il (Ansan) as mixed-race national team members, but both were born in Korea. Born in Germany, Kastrov had a Korean mother and a German father. The administrative procedure was completed as Kastrov's association was changed from Germany (DFB) to the Korea Football Association (KFA). Coach Hong has already checked Castrov's performance.
There were no other major upsets. It didn't go far beyond my expectations. Most of the main players who played as key players in the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup were on the list. Son Heung-min (LAFC) will take the lead. He left Tottenham (England) for 10 years and moved to LA FA. He has dominated the U.S. stage just three games after his Major League Soccer (MLS) debut, showing the side of 'Walkle'. Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) and Hwang In-beom (Feyenoord) also joined. Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), who had been away for a while due to injury, was also called after a long time. Kim Min-jae has not been able to join the A-match in March and June due to injuries such as Achilles tendon inflammation, sore throat, and back pain and controversy over overwork. However, Kim Min-jae recovered ahead of the new season and showed off his robustness.\Meanwhile, the draw for the North American World Cup will be held on December 6 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Forty-eight participating countries, including South Korea, will compete in 12 groups of four teams. The top eight of the top two teams in each group (24 teams in total) and third place will advance to the round of 32 tournaments.
◇ September 2025 A Match Team List
▶GK = Cho Hyun-woo (Ulsan), Song Beom-geun (Jeonbuk), Kim Seung-gyu (Tokyo)
▶DF = Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich), Byun Jun-su (Gwangju), Lee Han-beom (Mit Willan), Kim Joo-sung (Hiroshima), Kim Tae-hyun (Kashima), Lee Myung-jae (Daejeon), Seol Young-woo (Zvezda), Lee Tae-seok (Austria Vienna)
▶MF = Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain), Hwang In-beom (Feyenoord), Lee Jae-sung (Mainz), Jung Sang-bin (St. Louis City), Jens Castrov (Mönchengladbach), Park Yong-woo (Al Ain), Kim Jin-kyu (Jeonbuk), Bae Jun-ho (Stoke City) Lee Dong-kyung (Kim Chun)
▶FW = Oh Hyun-kyu (Henk), Oh Se-hoon (Machida), Son Heung-min (LAFC)
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
