Inazuma International Team Selection - South Korea

In Inazuma Eleven each third season has (at least in some form) an international tournament seen in the original third series, in Inazuma Eleven Go Galaxy (at least before the Grand Celesta Galaxy) and in Orion no Kokuin. With these series and the international teams that are in it there are some overlap with countries used. Over the course of this series I aim to combine those countries with more than one international team into the ultimate one in the Inazuma Eleven series.

Before the first team is revealed I’d like to go over some ground rules. This is based on the anime alone. Now with that a lot of characters don’t get a large amount of time to shine making it difficult in some areas to place players. I have worked a system to which if the player used a hissatsu or was a captain for their team it will work in their favour. As well as this for characters for Orion that were/are Disciples of Orion (at least the ones confirmed in the Anime) it will also make it more likely for them to be included in the 11 players picked (dependent on the players in that position), while some teams that have confirmed that all of their characters are Disciple of Orion this gets thrown out and the one relevant to the story of the matches will be used instead.

With that all being said this series will be started with one of Japan’s most consistent rivals in the series that being Korea. The Korea team takes players from all three of their national team appearances, Fire Dragon in the original FFI, Fire Dragon in FFIV2 and Red Bison in Orion’s FFI. One thing with Inazuma Eleven is that not a lot of defenders get any attention, only 3 Korean defenders use Hissatsu techniques (and it’s all the same one) in all their appearances, however they are loaded in attack hence my choice to go with 3-5-2 with a defensive midfielder to support the 3 at the back. A team loaded up top as this would look to outscore the opposition. They would more likely win 5-4 than 1-0.

GK: Jo Jung-Soo (Fire Dragon)

When it came to the goalkeepers it was a choice of three, Jo Jung-Soo, Nam Do-Hyeon & Shin Rae-Won, all keepers use hissatsu techniques but in the end two of these keepers lost their opening match while the other one made it to the final so Jo Jung-Soo get the nod a Korea’s number 1.

CB: Bae Jeong-Ho (Fire Dragon GO)

I went with a back three as with all teams in Inazuma Eleven lack real defender hissatsu techniques. With the back three for Korea all using the same technique in this case Jibashiri Kaen. Bae Jeong-Ho is the first member of Fire Dragon Go to make the team.

CB: Ko Seong-Hwan (Fire Dragon)

The second Jibashiri Kaen user is Ko Seong-Hwan, the biggest of the defenders I have him in the middle of the three as I see the other two players as more mobile. Again, not much to add due to the lack of screen time for defenders in the series.

CB: Hwan Woo-Myang (Fire Dragon)

The final of the Jibashiri Kaen using defensive three is Hwan Woo-Myang. Probably my favourite of the 3 as I like how his face design resembles the Yin-Yang symbol but that is about it. While I am not a fan of a back three, but these are the only defenders to make any sort of impact in their respective games.

CDM: Seok Min-Woo (Red Bison)

Moving onto the midfield I wanted to put someone in the central defensive midfield role to back up the back three. I went with Seo Min-Woo the captain for Red Bison. As the head of the Tokkou Buffalo Train, as captain of the Red Bison he would be a key player and with Tokkou Buffalo Train someone who could play out from the back.

CM: Choi Chang Soo (Fire Dragon) (Captain)

Speaking of captain, the captain of Fire Dragon and the man I would appoint Captain of this South Korean team. Choi Chang Soo leads the best Korean team and the only one to make it past the first round. While the only Hissatsu used by Choi is Naraku Otoshi (he does lead Perfect Zone Press) Choi shows a commanding presence over all of his team. It shows how good he is at leasing with how a team with 3 other captains with Aphrodi as one of them happily working under his command. I wish we could’ve spent more time with Fire Dragon to see more of this character as they managed to create a compelling captain and playmaker similar to how Kidou was originally presented.

CM: Afuro Terumi (Fire Dragon)

Afuro or Aphrodi is one of the main supporting characters of the series in its entirety. While a striker for Fire Dragon I have moved Afuro to his original position of midfield where he played for Zeus. In all of his appearances between the original series to Orion, Afuro is shown as one of the best players on the teams he is on, capable of dragging a team by himself to victory and leading the charge, an easy choice for the team with how prominent of a character he has been throughout the shows history.

LW: Nagumo Haruya (Fire Dragon)

Another main supporting character this time only in season 2 Nagumo was the captain of Prominence, the co-captain of Chaos and one of its main two forwards with Suzuno Fuusuke while under his alien persona ‘Burn’. Capable of scoring with his solo move Atomic Flair, as part of the duel shot Fire Blizzard and Korea’s triple shot Chaos Break, I placed Nagumo on the attacking left wing as he plays left in the front three for Fire Dragon.

RW: Suzuno Fuusuke (Fire Dragon)

If Korea benefits from anything it’s that it has characters who were main supporting characters in previous series meaning their credentials are well known. The man formerly known as the alien ‘Gazel’ takes the attacking right wing as he does for Fire Dragon. The captain of Diamond Dust, co-captain of Chaos, one half of the Fire Blizzard shot and one third of Chaos Break and with his own powerful shot in Northern Impact, Suzuno was an easy choice for the squad and helps compliment a very strong attacking third for the team.

SS: Lee Chung-Yun (Fire Dragon GO)

One main change to player positions comes with Lee Chung-Yun, I have the Wind of Korea operating as a secondary striker behind the main one the captain of Fire Dragon GO was an easy choice, being a captain and scorer of Fire Dragon GO’s only goal with his Hissatsu Technique Rapid Fire, he’s showcased as someone who can dribble past opponents hence why I’ve played him in a deeper role to his shown position for him to run and and through opponents.Captain, scored with Rapid Fire

ST: Baek Shi-Woo (Red Bison)Operating as the main point of attack for this Korean team is the ace for Red Bison Baek Sho-Woo. Not only a Seal of Orion but scored one goal (all be it thanks to the help of Park Ji-Won clouding up the penalty area)and without his play the second wouldn’t have happened (while Lee Dong-Hyeok scored the goal it was Baek’s Hissatsu Red Break that allowed this to happen). Having two separate shot techniques and as part Tokkou Buffalo Train it was an easy call to have Baek lead the line.

Substitutes

With these teams I am going to put a subs bench of seven together similar to most major leagues set up their subs bench, no real criteria to these players being on the bench but are one’s I like and want to highlight.  

1. Shin Rae-Won (GK) (Red Bison)
2. Choi Sin-Jae (RB/CB) (Fire Dragon GO)
3. Ha Jeong-Pyo (CB) (Red Bison)
4. Park Baek-Yeon (CM) (Fire Dragon)
5. Park Ji-Won (CM/LW) (Red Bison)
6. Lee Dong-Hyeok (SS/ST) (Red Bison)
7. Hwang Jun-Ho (ST) (Fire Dragon GO)

And finally, please see below the tactics laid out as to how this team would look as a full team sheet.

All in all South Korea has a strong pool of players to choose from, the original Fire Dragon helps this a lot with 4 key players and Red Bison not having the captain being Beak Shi-Woo gave 2 characters easy as well, Other teams will not be as easy to get this done but that is a bridge to cross another time.