South Korea at the CONCACAF Gold Cup

The CONCACAF Gold Cup is North America's major tournament in senior men's football and determines the continental champion. Until 1989, the tournament was known as CONCACAF Championship.[1] It is currently held every two years.[2] From 1996 to 2005, nations from other confederations have regularly joined the tournament as invitees. In earlier editions, the continental championship was held in different countries, but since the inception of the Gold Cup in 1991, the United States are constant hosts or co-hosts.

Kim Nam-Il was voted into the 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup Best XI, foreshadowing his stellar performance at South Korea's home World Cup later that year.

From 1973 to 1989, the tournament doubled as the confederation's World Cup qualification. CONCACAF's representative team at the FIFA Confederations Cup was decided by a play-off between the winners of the last two tournament editions in 2015 via the CONCACAF Cup, but was then discontinued along with the Confederations Cup.[3]

Since the inaugural tournament in 1963, the Gold Cup was held 25 times and has been won by seven different nations, most often by Mexico (11 titles).

South Korea are the only Asian team to ever participate in the North American continental championships and have done so twice: consecutively in 2000 and 2002. In seven matches, they failed to win a single one in regular time, but won Fourth Place in 2002 after advancing to the knockout stage with only one point to their name and defeating Mexico on penalties in the quarter-finals. Two years prior, they were eliminated after the group stage per coin toss. Canada advanced instead and eventually won the 2000 edition.

Record
CONCACAF Gold Cup
Year Result Position Pld W T L GF GA
2000Group stage9th202022
2002Fourth place4th502337
Total220/27704359

Match overview
Tournament Round Opponent Score Venue
2000Group stage Canada0–0Los Angeles
 Costa Rica2–2
2002Group stage United States1–2Pasadena
 Cuba0–0
Quarter-final Mexico0–0
(4–2 pen.)
Semi-final Costa Rica1–3
Third place Canada1–2

Squads

Record players
Lee Young-pyo of the Anyang Cheetahs played in all of South Korea's CONCACAF Gold Cup matches in both 2000 and 2002. He went on to play for major European clubs, most notably Tottenham Hotspur.

Lee Young-pyo is the only player who was fielded in all seven of South Korea's Gold Cup matches. In 2002, Song Chong-gug was the only player to play through the entirety of Korea's Fourth-Place-run. In the same year, Kim Nam-il was voted into the tournament's Best XI, becoming the first and only Asian player to be honoured at a North American continental championship.

No. Name Matches Minutes Gold Cups
1Lee Young-pyo75882000 and 2002
2Kim Tae-young65702000 and 2002
3Song Chong-gug54802002
Lee Eul-yong53702002
5Kim Nam-il43832002
Cha Du-Ri43722002
Kim Byung-Ji43602000 and 2002
Choi Jin-cheul43562002
Yoo Sang-chul43302000 and 2002
Kim Do-keun42282002
Lee Dong-gook42202000 and 2002

Top scorers

Five players have scored one goal each at the tournaments. Three of them have been scored against Costa Rica.

Tournament Name Stage Opponent Score Result
2000Lee Dong-gookGroup stage Costa Rica1–02–2
Lee Min-sung2–1
2002Song Chong-gugGroup stage United States1–11–2
Choi Jin-cheulSemi-final Costa Rica1–21–3
Kim Do-hoonThird place Canada1–01–2

References
  1. Wiebe, Andrew. "Gold Cup 101: What it is, why it matters, and how to follow along this summer", MLSsoccer.com, 07 July 2015. Retrieved on 26 October 2018.
  2. "About the CONCACAF Gold Cup", goldcup.org, 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
  3. CONCACAF (official) "Playoff Match between USA and Mexico [..."], concacaf.com, 07 August 2015. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
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