Korea, co-hosting with Japan, is making their fifth straight and sixth overall appearance in the World Cup.  Can you name the other Korea Japan competitors that have a similar record?  There are not nearly as many as you would think!  For the answer, click here .  For more on the history of Korea in the World Cup, go to the HISTORY link on this page.

Korea, ranked 43 in the most recent FIFA World Ranking, is scheduled to open their World Cup run on June 4 against Poland in Busan. Then they take on the Yanks on June 10 in Daegu before finishing against Portugal on June 14 in Daejeon. Korea's official roster is here . Also, check out the projected lineups for all Group D matches.   Most recently -- see my Predictions ! (I am in NO way responsible for any wagers made on these predictions -- I HIGHLY recommend against it!)  If Korea makes it out of the Group Stage, they would play a team from Group G.  For more information, click here .  FWIW and for various reasons, I don't have tons of confidence in the FIFA Rankings . If for no other reason than they are the host nation, Korea will be a team to be reckoned with.  For a full schedule of matches and sites, go to the schedule .  Also, check out the stadium guide .

Korea will travel to North America for the CONCACAF Gold Cup in January, where they are scheduled to face off against the United States. Coached by Guus Hiddink, Korea will be challenged to maintain the statement that no host nation has not made it to the second round.  For more information about the upcoming schedule for Korea, see the ROAD link.  Check out CNN/SI's take on South Korea .

For more information about Korea in general, and including information about their unique flag, please check out the General Korea/Japan Info page.

Also, check out the World Cup (basic) Statistics page for more information about where each team ranks in terms of World Cup history.

As usual, if you have information that could help flesh out these pages, PLEASE let me know via my email address below. Corrections, suggestions, questions and comments are ALWAYS welcome. (What I do with them is my own business, but... ;-)

With comments, questions, concerns, etc., please email me!
 
 

Trivia answer -- In fact, of 32 competitors in the 2002 World Cup, only six other nations (Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina, Spain and Belgium) have competed in at least the four consecutive prior World Cups. Not England, and not the current holders France. The Netherlands didn't make it this year.  Neither did Yugoslavia or Norway -- strong teams in '98.  Cameroon and the USA have made the past three World Cups, and Russia only missed '98. Other than that, few teams come to the World Cup with the same experience as Korea.  Back to top .

PERSONNEL

Korea's official World Cup roster is here .

According to a 3-18-02 article , the Korean roster is all but set for the World Cup.

An overall roster can be found here .

FIFA/Yahoo's "Star Player" for Korea is Seol Ki-Hyeon .

As a part of its coverage of the Gold Cup, SoccerAmerica did a piece on Korea's coaches frustrations with their performance .  In it, they go into some of the personnel of the team.

The Korean Football Association has revealed its roster for the upcoming Gold Cup matches in the US.

Other Group D Personnel sections | USA | Portugal | Poland
 

ROAD TO THE WORLD CUP | HISTORY | Back to top

ROAD TO THE WORLD CUP

Upcoming friendlies | Gold Cup

Korea lost to Canada, 2-1, in the 3rd Place game .  Korea had fallen short in the Semifinal against Costa Rica Wednesday night, losing 3-1 .

Korea advanced to play Costa Rica after defeating Mexico 4-2 on penalty kicks after a scoreless regulation and extratime.  Korea had advanced to play Mexico on Sunday in the second round after tying Cuba, 0-0 , Wednesday night in the CONCACAF Gold Cup .  Korea lost to the USA, 2-1 on 1-19-02.  Cuba lost to the USA, 1-0, on 1-21-02.

The USA plays Canada in the other qualifier.

Costa Rica and Canada advanced after beating Haiti and Martinique, respectively (story ).  For more information, check out the CONCACAF Gold Cup page and the ESPNet Gold Cup page.

Yahoo.com has a pretty thorough Preview by Jaime Trecker.  MEGASOCCER.com also has a Gold Cup Preview .
 

Date	Teams	Site
1-19-02	USA 2, Korea 1 ( story , 2 , 3 )	Pasadena
1-23-02	Korea 0, Cuba 0 ( story )	Pasadena
1-27-02	QF3: Korea 0(4), Mexico 0(2)	Pasadena
	QF4: USA 4, El Salvador 0	Pasadena
1-30-02	SF1: Costa Rica 3, Korea 1 ( story )	Pasadena
	SF2: USA 0(4), Canada 0(2)	Pasadena
2-2-02	THIRD-PLACE: Canada 2, Korea 1	Pasadena
	FINAL: USA 2, Costa Rica 0	Pasadena

 
Korea and the US played on 12-9-01, with South Korea winning, 1-0.  MLS' match report is here .  The match report from the KFA is here .
 
Other Group D Road to the World Cup sections | USA | Portugal | Poland

PERSONNEL | HISTORY | Back to top

KOREA WORLD CUP AND NATIONAL TEAM HISTORY

As mentioned before, Korea is making its sixth appearance in the World Cup, and although they have yet to win a game in their World Cup history, they have an experienced side with an experienced coach bringing them to the table.  Below the table is a brief comment regarding the participation of North Korea in the World Cup.

For general World Cup history, go to FIFA's site here .  I have also linked the title link to the FIFA page that has the entire set of results plus a commentary from that World Cup.

Switzerland 1954 | Mexico 1986 | Italy 1990 | USA 1994 | France 1998
 
 

Switzerland 1954	Korea 0	Hungary 9
	Korea 0	Turkey 7
Mexico 1986	Korea 1	Argentina 3
	Korea 1	Bulgaria 1
	Korea 2	Italy 3
Italy 1990	Korea 0	Belgium 2
	Korea 1	Spain 3
	Korea 0	Uruguay 1
USA 1994	Korea 2	Spain 2
	Korea 0	Bolivia 0
	Korea 2	Germany 3
France 1998	Korea 1	Mexico 3
	Korea 0	Netherlands 5
	Korea 1	Belgium 1

 
  Note Regarding North Korea -- while they are separate countries, North and South Korea share a similar history.  Please see the note regarding North Korea's participation in the 1966 World Cup held in England, especially considering that the South Korean coach has commented as recently as January that including players from North Korea is a possibility.  See the InternetSoccer story here .  Feeding that speculation, see the story from the KFA site here .

PERSONNEL | ROAD TO THE WORLD CUP | Back to top

Other Group D World Cup History Sections: USA | Portugal | Poland

"Is there a soccer match today?" Back to top .