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Korea Republic's final lap begins
Incheon: Korea Republic departed for Austria on Sunday to set up their pre-FIFA World Cup 2018 camp, 15 days before their first group stage match in Russia.

Head coach Shin Tae-yong and his 23 players will settle down in Leogang, in the state of Salzburg, and play two more tune-up matches there before hopping over to Saint Petersburg on June 12.

Drawn in Group F, the 61st-ranked Korea Republic are scheduled to play World No 23 Sweden at Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod on June 18, followed by the 15th-ranked Mexico at Rostov Arena, Rostov-on-Don, on June 23.

The Taeguk Warriors' final Group F opponents will be Germany, the defending champions and World No 1, at Kazan Arena in Kazan on June 27.


Korea Republic are playing in their ninth consecutive FIFA World Cup. 

After downing Honduras 2-0 on Monday, Korea Republic fell to Bosnia-Herzegoniva 3-1 in their final warm-up match at home on Friday.

Shin carried a 26-man provisional roster to those two earlier matches, and he cut defenders Kim Jin-su and Kwon Kyung-won and midfielder Lee Chung-yong to finalise the 23-player squad on Saturday. 

The Korea Football Association (KFA) said the final roster was submitted to FIFA earlier on Sunday, a day before the deadline.

Shin Tae-yong-Korea Republic-AFP

The coach had originally named 28 players to that provisional team, but two players, forward Lee Keun-ho and midfielder Kwon Chang-hoon, went down with injuries. Shin chose not to replace them.

Shin will have two more opportunities to test his systems. Korea Republic will face Bolivia on Thursday and then Senegal four days later. 

Korea Republic have made it out of the group stage twice before. They made a historic march to the semi-finals at the 2002 World Cup, which they co-hosted with Japan, and reached the Round of 16 at the 2010 tournament in South Africa.

Sources: Yonhap, AFP