Hwang Sun-hong “I’m going to the Olympics for the 10th time in a row without taking anything for granted”

France training ahead of final Olympic qualifier in Paris
Thierry Henry’s France U-21s and more in an exhibition match

Korea’s 10th consecutive Olympic qualification, Hwang Sun-hong, has traveled to France for a training camp ahead of the final qualifying round for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games next April.

The Olympic team, led by head coach Hwang Sun-hong, departed for France through Incheon International Airport on the 13th.

The team will play two exhibition matches during the training camp. In particular, the second opponent will be the French U-21 team led by Thierry Henry.

After leading the team to its third consecutive title at the Hangzhou Asian Games last month, Hwang has taken a short break and is back in full swing for the Paris Games.

Speaking to reporters before his departure, Hwang said: “There is no afterglow (of the Asian Games gold medal). The final Olympic qualifiers are in April next year, so I will put the Asian Games win behind me and focus on my preparation,” he said.

“The French national team is a very international team. We’ll see what we need to work on and what we need to keep working on, so we can prepare for the final qualifier in April.”

Hwang Sun-hong is preparing for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-23 Asian Cup, the final Asian qualifier for the Paris Olympics, in Qatar next April.

It’s a different age group than the Asian Games squad, so he’ll have to work with some new faces.

The initial roster included four Asian Games representatives, but Kim Jung-hoon (Jeonbuk) and Ko Young-joon (Pohang) were ruled out due to injury. Only Hwang Jae-won (Daegu) and Ahn Jae-joon (Bucheon), who won gold in Hangzhou, will accompany the team to France.

“We have to put together a new team because the age group is completely different,” said Hwang. We’re going to keep the same team, but we’re also going to consider different situations,” Hwang explained.

“It’s one of the things I’m worried about. I think it will be difficult to use players from overseas leagues for the final qualifiers next year. It’s difficult to organize the best squad because of injuries,” he said, adding, “Young players are developing through the K League, so we plan to prepare for the final qualifiers by focusing on domestic players.”

Kim Ji-soo (Brentford), Kwon Hyuk-kyu (Celtic) and Jung Sang-bin (Minnesota) were also included in the call-up list.

If Korea qualifies for Paris, it will become the first country in the world to qualify for 10 consecutive Olympic Games.

Hwang said, “There are no easy wins or results. We need to prepare. “It’s a big deal to go to 10 consecutive Olympic Games with our athletes,” he said. “We have a short time left, but we will do our best to prepare so that we can have a good result when we get there.

Meanwhile, Hwang appeared at the departure gate on crutches. He underwent surgery on the 25th of last month due to persistent right knee pain. He said, “I haven’t been able to exercise at all this year. I had to postpone the surgery because of the Asian Games,” he explained. 스포츠토토맨