On Friday, FIFA published all of the rosters for the Olympic soccer tournaments. Among the new-to-us rosters was that of the USWNT’s final group opponent, North Korea (FIFA.com), who were also in the USA’s group in last year’s Women’s World Cup. Only 6 players of the players on the official 18-player roster return from last year’s squad. Ten of North Korea’s official players are U-20 age-eligible. Also, two of their alternates are U-20 players and a third alternate is a U-17 player.
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ROSTER NOTES
Returnees (6):
–Choe Mi Gyong (forward; 25 minutes; 2 matches)
–Jon Myong Hwa (midfielder; 248 minutes; 3 matches)
–Kim Chung Sim (midfielder; 50 minutes; 2 matches)
–Kim Myong Gum (midfielder; 0 minutes; 0 matches)
–Kwon Song Hwa (forward; 9 minutes; 1 match)
–Yun Hyon Hi (forward; 147 minutes; 3 matches)
Also, two of the alternates were on last year’s roster: Kim Su Gyong (U-17 midfielder) and Kim Chol Ok (U-20 goalkeeper).
No Jo Yun Mi (No, the Other One): One player not returning is the team’s captain from 2011, midfielder Jo Yun Mi (b. January 5, 1987). However, there is another Jo Yun Mi on the roster, a goalkeeper (b. May 22, 1989). This is not an error, as both Jo’s were on PRK’s qualifying roster (see this box score, www.the-afc.com). The absence of the senior Jo would appear to be another significant blow for this team (CBC.ca profile on the senior Jo Yun Mi), which is already shorthanded due to the doping bans handed out after last year’s WWC.
Ineligible Players From the 2011 WWC – Five players from the 2011 Women’s World Cup, including the team’s then #1 goalkeeper, along with four defenders, are banned from all forms of soccer due to doping-related violation (FIFA.com):
–Ho Un Byol (U-20, defender, started all 3 matches)
–Hong Myong Hui (#1 goalkeeper, started all 3 matches)
–Jong Pok Sim (defender, started 2 matches)
–Ri Un Hyang (defender, started all 3 matches)
–Song Jong Sun (defender, started 2 matches)
The Youngest Roster: 17 of the 18 players on the official roster were born in 1989 or later (U-23), with 10 of those players being eligible for this year’s Under-20 Women’s World Cup (1992 or later birth year). The oldest player, forward Kim Song Hui, will only be 25.42 years-old when the Olympic tournament begins. With an average age of 20.66 years, PRK has the youngest average squad by over 18 months. The next youngest squad is Colombia, which has an average age of 22.34 years. — North Korea also had a young squad at the 2011 WWC, with 11 U-20 players (1991 or later birth year), including 8 U-19 players (1992 or later birth years, i.e., those who would be eligible for this year’s U-20 WWC.)
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TABLE: North Korea’s Roster, By Position
PLAYER S# P. D.O.B. Age HT. CAPS G NOTES JO Yun Mi 1 GK 05/22/1989 23.2 173 14 0 O Chang Ran 18 GK 09/05/1991 20.9 173 18 0 KIM Myong Gum* 3 DF 11/04/1990 21.7 163 14 0 KIM Nam Hui 2 DF 03/04/1994 18.4 163 10 0 U-20 PONG Son Hwa 14 DF 02/18/1993 19.4 166 9 0 U-20 RI Nam Sil 15 DF 02/13/1994 18.4 168 1 0 U-20 RO Chol Ok 4 DF 01/03/1993 19.6 170 6 0 U-20 YUN Song Mi 5 DF 01/28/1992 20.5 166 20 2 U-20 CHOE Un Ju 6 MF 01/23/1991 21.5 157 14 3 JON Myong Hwa* 8 MF 08/09/1993 19.0 171 24 3 U-20 KIM Chung Sim* 11 MF 11/27/1990 21.7 158 15 2 KIM Un Hyang 12 MF 08/26/1993 18.9 169 9 2 U-20 O Hui Sun 13 MF 11/22/1993 18.7 160 9 0 U-20 RI Ye Gyong 7 MF 10/26/1989 22.8 163 25 9 CHOE Mi Gyong* 9 FW 01/17/1991 21.5 160 13 4 KIM Song Hui 16 FW 02/23/1987 25.4 163 18 5 KWON Song Hwa* 17 FW 02/05/1992 20.5 167 6 0 U-20 YUN Hyon Hi* 10 FW 09/09/1992 19.9 169 22 6 U-20 --- ALTERNATES ------------------------------------------------ YU Jong Im 19 MF 12/06/1993 18.6 163 6 0 U-20 CHOE Yong Sim 20 DF 10/13/1988 23.8 172 17 0 KIM Su Gyong 21 MF 01/04/1995 17.6 158 15 2 U-17 KIM Chol Ok 22 GK 10/15/1994 17.8 170 0 0 U-20
Cap and Goal numbers are taken from a PDF file made available by FIFA.
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SEE ALSO: Other Olympic Rosters
(in order of release date, most recent first)
Women's Soccer Express 