Arsenal midfielder Park Chu-young has been surprisingly named in the South Korea’s squad for the World Cup 2014 despite not having played regularly for the Premier League club. The 28-year-old has been an Arsenal player since 2011, but he has made just one appearance for the English club in all these years. He has been on loan at Celta de Vigo and Watford during this period, but even then, he has been unable to get regular game time. This has increased speculation that he would miss out on the World Cup 2014 spot.
Arsenal midfielder Park Chu-young has been surprisingly named in the South Korea’s squad for the World Cup 2014 despite not having played regularly for the Premier League club. The 28-year-old has been an Arsenal player since 2011, but he has made just one appearance for the English club in all these years. He has been on loan at Celta de Vigo and Watford during this period, but even then, he has been unable to get regular game time. This has increased speculation that he would miss out on the World Cup 2014 spot.
South Korea manager Hong Myung-bo, though, has surprised everyone by stating that the 28-year-old being included in the squad has nothing to do with his current form. He says that the midfielder has been included because he is one of the best professionals in the dressing room. He also helps the dressing room unit with a harmonious atmosphere according to Hong. He was speaking on the occasion of announcing his 23 man squad for the competition, which will see the nation coming up against the likes of Belgium, Algeria, and Russia in the group stages.
Belgium are seen as the favourites to reach the knockout stages, which leaves the trio of Algeria, South Korea and Russia to fight for the final qualifying spot.
“At this World Cup we will have to battle some of the world’s best players, and it was hard to exclude Park given his experience. In addition to that, we don’t have anyone who can replace him, and he gets on well with the rest of the squad, those are the reasons that we selected him. We tried to give support to any player who needed our help. People may see it differently but from my point of view we did not give Park special treatment,” said Hong.