The Korean national soccer team, who is participating in the two-game international away game in Europe in September, will travel to Newcastle, England, the ‘stage of the final match’, on a chartered flight provided by Saudi Arabia, the opponent for the second game.
An official from the Korea Football Association said on the 10th, “The national soccer team will leave for Newcastle on a chartered flight from London, England, at noon on the 11th, local time.” He added, “Saudi Arabia, which wanted to hold the game in Newcastle, is providing the chartered flight.” 먹튀검증사이트
The national team led by coach Jurgen Klinsmann drew without a goal in the first game of the two-game international match against Wales, played on the 8th at Cardiff City Stadium in Wales, England.
The national team moved to London immediately after the game and began training at the training ground of Brentford FC in preparation for the Saudi match.
Klinsmann will face Saudi Arabia at St. James Park in Newcastle, England, at 1:30 a.m. on the 14th, Korean time.
Since the distance from London to Newcastle is close to 450km, the national team’s long-distance travel route from Cardiff → London → Newcastle is raising eyebrows.
For this reason, some raised suspicions that Coach Klinsmann may have deliberately created a London training schedule to participate in the legendary match between Chelsea and Bayern Munich, which was scheduled in London on the 9th local time.
This complicated schedule for the two-game European away trip in September began with the cancellation of the evaluation games originally scheduled for Mexico and London.
The Football Association negotiated with Wales and Mexico as opponents for the September international match.
Last May, an evaluation match schedule was first agreed upon with Wales, and final negotiations were held with Mexico last June. Mexican media previously reported that friendly matches against Saudi Arabia and Korea would be held in September.
However, Mexico canceled its friendly match against Korea last July. The reason was that viewership ratings would be low because the game time did not fit the domestic TV broadcast schedule.
During the negotiations for the friendly match in Mexico, the Football Association decided to hold the game in London, and had already concluded discussions with the Brentford club on the use of the training ground and stadium.
Meanwhile, Mexico suddenly canceled the friendly match schedule, and the Football Association rescheduled the friendly match with Saudi Arabia, which was supposed to play against Mexico.
The Saudi Arabian Football Association wanted the friendly match to be held at Newcastle’s home stadium, St James’ Park. Newcastle is a club acquired in October 2021 by a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund (PIF).
An official from the Football Association hinted, “As the Saudi Football Association decided on Newcastle as the venue for the match, they decided to provide not only the Korean national team’s stay in London and Newcastle, but also a charter flight.”
He added, “Our Football Association also made a preliminary visit to Newcastle. A large-scale marathon (2023 Great North Run) is scheduled in Newcastle on the 10th local time, so it was expected that there would be great difficulties in finding accommodation and moving the players.”
Accordingly, the Football Association decided that it would be better to continue using the training ground initially agreed upon with Brentford and then travel to Newcastle on a chartered flight provided by Saudi Arabia, so they continued their training in London after the Wales game.