The match all the football fans have dreamt of - Paulo Bento’s Korea Republic national team and Kim Hag Bum’s U-23 national team are set to face each other twice in September. 

The two-match series will take place during the forthcoming A-match window (from 31 August to 8 September). The venue for the matches is Goyang Sports Complex and the dates are to be confirmed. The players based in foreign countries will not be called up for the ties, since they must go through the self-isolation process upon arrival due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The KFA had been searching for their opponents for a September friendly in the buildup to the Asian Zone qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, which will resume in October. However, it was almost impossible to arrange an A-match against another country in such a dire situation caused by the pandemic, and the KFA came up with the idea of matching Team Bento with the U-23 national team for a series of friendlies.

The matches between the national team and the U-23 national team is expected to be a win-win solution for both sides. Bento has not been able to call up his squad since the EAFF E-1 Championship last December. Although his coaching staff have been travelling around the county to follow the K League matches every week, it was not enough to check the conditions of the players properly. The coach is hoping to closely monitor the progress during the training session, whilst preparing for the qualifiers against Turkmenistan and Sri Lanka in October.

It will be a precious opportunity for the U-23 national team as well. Kim’s U-23 side have not trained together after winning the continental crown earlier this year. Although there is still time to prepare for the Olympic finals with the postponement of the tournament to next July, Kim has not been able to watch his players in person. Therefore, the matches will provide a good chance to find some new faces and raise their game through the games against the senior national team.

Kim Pangon, KFA’s National Team Committee Chairman, said: “Since all the players in the national team and the U-23 team are professional footballers, it is impossible to call them up unless we have the A-match days. I’ve discussed this with both coaches, and even if they might feel a bit under pressure, they all agreed that we’d need those matches to check the players and maintain their competitiveness.”

Despite the absence of the players plying their trade overseas, these matches will be eagerly anticipated by the football fans. The players who have recently returned from foreign leagues are expected to strengthen the squad, with Lee Chungyong (Ulsan Hyundai), Na Sangho (Seongnam FC), Jung Seunghyun (Ulsan Hyundai) and Gu Sungyun (Daegu FC) in good shape to make the first team. the U-23 national team, for their part, also boast some of the K League’s brightest starlets including Oh Sehun (Sangju Sangmu), Lee Dongjun (Busan IPark), Kim Daewon (Daegu FC) and Eom Wonsang (Gwangju FC).

Jeon Hanjin, General Secretary of the KFA, said: “We’ve internally discussed various alternatives to use the A-match period in September. Hopefully, these matches will be a good opportunity for both national teams to keep up their progress, and on a bigger scale, to build up new momentum in domestic sports to overcome the crisis caused by the COVID-19.”