21 Years of Age Difference Among `Teammates`

`736` World Cup players have been finally confirmed. 32 participating nations in the 2002 Korea Japan World Cup submitted their final 23 entries at FIFA on the 22nd.

The oldest player, 38 years and 9 months (born on August 17, 1963) old, is Danish defender Jan Heintze. Also, Russian and English goalkeepers Stanislav Cherchesov (born on September 2 1963) and David Seaman (born on September 19, 1963) are showing off long years of experience.

The youngest player is Cameroon’s goalkeeper Carlos Kameni (born on December 18, 1984), who is only 17 years and 5 months old. He has 21 years of age difference from the three players born in 1963.

The oldest player ever was Cameroon’s Roger Miller (42 years and 39 days old) in the 1994 U.S.A. World Cup, and the youngest ever was Norman Whiteside (17 years and 42 days old. Northern Ireland), who participated in the 1982 Spain World Cup.

Among all the national players of each nation, the one with the most number of participation in matches between national teams (A-matches) is Saudi Arabia’s goalkeeper Mohammed Abdul Aziz al-Daeyea (162 matches). Al-Daeyea took the title over Mexico’s defender Claudio Suarez (169 matches), the record-holder in this criterion, as he missed the World Cup due to injury.

The player with the most goals in A-matches is Saudi Arabia’s striker Sami Al Jaber, who scored 56 goals. This tournament’s strong candidate for the best scorer, Argentina’s Gabriel Batistuta, is following closely with 55 goals, and Hwang Seon-Hong is after him with 47 goals.

Hwang has enjoyed the honor of the 4th consecutive participation in World Cups along with Hong Myeong-Bo, Paolo Maldini (Italy), Fernando Hierro (Spain), Marc Wilmots (Belgium), and Jacques Songo’O (Cameroon). The one with the most participation is Germany’s Matthaus (5 times in a raw).

For 3 consecutive participations, Batistuta, Luis Enrique (Spain), Cafu (Brazil), and Oliver Khan (Germany) were named.

Meanwhile, FIFA is to announce the final list of players on the 24th, after analyzing the final entries and selecting disqualifiers. However, the participating countries are allowed to change their players under FIFA’s authorization until one day before the first group match in case of emergency.

Sang-Ho Kim hyangsan@donga.com