South Korea manager Cho Kwang-rae called up 15 players currently in overseas leagues for his 24-man squad ahead of a friendly against Japan on Aug. 10.

The 57-year-old’s decision comes after the recent match-fixing scandal in the K-League, which has made it difficult for him to select local league footballers as he had initially planned for the away match in Sapporo.
""The situation in the K-League has not been settled and I decided I would rather call up those playing overseas and turn things around for Korean football,"" said Cho.
“And it's Korea against Japan, so the fans will pay attention. We will prepare the best we can.""
One of the K-League players caught up in the match-fixing crisis is Hong Jeong-ho. Cho wanted to include him in this game as the 21-year-old Jeju United defender proved himself in Korea’s last two internationals against Serbian and Ghana in June.
While Hong denies being involved in match rigging, he is still being investigated by the prosecution.
Instead Cho has called on defender Kim Young-kwon of Japan’s Omiya Ardija who has five caps and one goal.
“I couldn’t pick Hong, regretfully, as he is involved in the disgraceful matter,” the manager said.
“To fill Hong’s gap, I chose Kim with the plan to use him as a central stopper.”
Cho explained that the selection is based on the same tactics he has been pursuing: a fast switch between offense and defense and vice-versa. This will be Korea’s final international outing before the third round of Asian qualifying for the 2014 World Cup starts in September.
France’s AS Monaco striker Park Chu-young has again been named captain.
He will be partnered up front with Hamburger SV striker Son Heung-min, in German Bundelsgia’s. The 19-year-old made his international debut in January’s Asian Cup but has missed the team’s three last games. Cho said that Son has developed both physically and mentally in the past few months.
""At first, he made the team with his youthful exuberance, and I believe he has learned playing on the national team is quite different from what he thought,” Cho said.
The manager also named Ji Dong-won among the five strikers but the former Chunnam Dragon has just signed with English Premier League club Sunderland, who will play their season opener on Aug. 13. Cho said the 20-year-old is a conditional selection and that Ji will not join the squad if the English club plans to put him on the field.
Midfielders Lee Chung-yong of Bolton Wanderers and Ki Sung-yueng of Scotland’s Celtic FC, and Koo Ja-cheol of the Bundesliga’s VFl Wolfsburg have also been named for the squad.
(Source: Korea Times)