Star players join S. Korea's World Cup team ahead of qualifier

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DOHA, Qatar, Nov. 17 (Yonhap) -- Manchester United's Park Ji-sung and Lee
Young-pyo of Germany's Borussia Dortmund joined the South Korean national squad
Monday (Korean time) ahead of an upcoming 2010 World Cup qualifier against Saudi
Arabia.
The arrival of the two key midfielders came a day before the squad was to fly to
Saudi Arabia to play a regional qualifier for the upcoming World Cup in South
Africa. South Korea, who played a friendly against Qatar last week in Doha, lead
Group B of the final Asian qualifying round, while Saudi Arabia are placed third.
The two will face off against each other on Wednesday in Riyadh.
Five teams, also including Iran, North Korea and the United Arab Emirates, are
competing in the group for a pair of tickets to the World Cup. South Korea, who
seek their seventh straight ticket, drew with North Korea in September and
defeated the United Arab Emirates 4-1 last month.
Park, who scored a goal and an assist in the qualifier against the UAE, will
again likely captain his team in the upcoming match, according to team officials.
South Korea are ranked 53rd in the world, while Saudi Arabia are one notch
higher.
"It will be a very difficult game, but I'm here to help defeat Saudi Arabia,"
Park told reporters after arriving in Doha.
South Korea have lost five, won three and tied six in past matches with Saudi
Arabia.
Park will be joined by Park Chu-young, a striker who recently moved to AS Monaco
of the French league and is scheduled to join his national squad on Tuesday.
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