“The final 23 players for the Women’s World Cup will be chosen for their performances, not their names.”
The Women’s National Team is in the final stretch of training ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. With the final 23-man roster set to be named, head coach Colleen Bell has warned that the competition will be fierce.
Bell’s squad arrived at Paju NFC on Monday for their final World Cup training camp. Bell called up a total of 31 players for this final call-up. Three members of the U-16 national team, including 2007-born Casey Eugene Fair (Players Development Academy, USA) and Won Joo-eun Kwon Da-eun (Ulsan Hyundai High School), as well as goalkeeper Choi Ye-seul (Changnyeong WFC) and striker Koo Gi-na (Hwacheon KSPO), were put to the test for the final time. Only 23 of the 31 players will be able to play at the World Cup of their dreams. Even ‘captain’ Kim Hye-ri said, “I can’t and shouldn’t think that I or anyone else will go to the World Cup for granted. This last call-up is the most important. The coach will choose the 23 players who are in the best condition.”
Bell came out of the interview with a prepared note. In Korean, he said, “This is not a call-up to experiment, but to prove. The players here are proven players,” he said. “I wanted to bring energy, hunger, and vigor to the team. I wanted to introduce the younger players to the experience and environment of the national team, and I wanted to create opportunities to push the veterans,” he said. “Age doesn’t matter. We want all 23 players to be 100 percent. 메이저놀이터 We’re not going to pick based on name recognition, we’re going to pick based on performance. It’s not about picking 23 names,” he said.
When asked what he considers to be the most important qualities for the final selection, Bell said: “The ability to make smart, quick decisions and execute physically on time, and high intensity fitness.” “There are no 90-minute games in the World Cup. You need to be able to play 95, 98, 100 minutes, more, and the ability to play at a high intensity and keep your focus all the way through,” he said, drawing a picture for the press to illustrate the importance of consistent recovery alongside high-intensity training. “The speed and frequency of recovery after a soccer action (X) must be kept consistently high,” he said, drawing a capital X and a lowercase x in the English alphabet, “but if we play soccer where the next action after a good action (X) is weaker and the recovery time is longer and longer, we have no chance.
The Women’s National Team will play their final test and send-off against Haiti at the Seoul World Cup Stadium on March 8, before finalizing their 23-man roster and traveling to Australia for the finals. South Korea (17th in FIFA rankings), who are in Group H of the World Cup, will play Colombia (25th) in Sydney on July 25, Morocco (72nd) in Adelaide on July 30 and Germany (2nd) in Brisbane on August 3.