Son Heung-min (34, LAFC) and Lee Kang-in (25, PSG) both start on the bench.
Hong Myung-bo's team faces Ivory Coast at Milton Keynes Stadium MK in Milton Keynes, England, at 11 p.m. on the 28th (Korea time). It is the Korea national football team's 1,000th A match and the last live dress rehearsal before the World Cup.
Ahead of the match, the Korea team released its starting lineup. Korea fields goalkeeper Cho Hyun-woo leading the defense, Kim Moon-hwan, Jo Yu-min, Kim Min-jae, Kim Tae-hyun, Seol Young-woo, Kim Jin-gyu, Park Jin-seop, Bae Jun-ho, Oh Hyun-kyu and Hwang Hee-chan as starters. Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in and Lee Jae-sung, who have played central roles for the team, wait on the bench for orders to enter.
This match will also see the first application of the "hydration break," which will be introduced from the North and Central America World Cup. The game will be stopped for about three minutes around the 22nd minute of each half. Effectively, it creates a timeout period during the match.
Coach Hong Myung-bo is likely to use this time to adjust tactics, switch between a back four and back three, and test large-scale substitutions. In this friendly, up to 11 substitutions are allowed.
Opponent Ivory Coast is a strong African team ranked 37th by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). It is also a sparring partner simulating South Africa, whom Korea may meet in the World Cup finals. Players who play in Europe, such as Ahmad Diallo, Ibrahim Sangare, Nicolas Pépé and Odilon Kossounou, are on the roster.
Korea beat Ivory Coast 2-0 in the only meeting between the teams, which took place in London in March 2010.
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