Barca prodigies head for youth competition

Korea's prodigal FC Barcelona duo Lee Seung-woo and Paik Seung-ho are set to perform in front of their home fans at an international under-18 football tournament next week. The under-18 national teams of Korea, France, Uruguay and Belgium will compete in a round-robin format at the 2015 Suwon JS Cup, scheduled from April 29 to May 3 at Suwon World Cup Stadium. For the competition, Korea's under-18 coach, An Ik-soo, assembled his squad on April 19 and had a training session at Paju National Football center on Monday.  Concerns have lingered that An, who stresses disciplined football, and Lee and Paik, who play more creative football at Barcelona, may not mesh well in their first encounter, but Lee, 17, says he will follow the coach's instructions. "Though I'm not 100 percent sure, coach An lets us free in terms of off-pitch life, but when it comes to football, he is disciplined," Lee told Yonhap News Agency. "I will do what he wants. He cannot change the whole team's style just because of me." For Lee and Paik, Korea's first match against Uruguay at 8 p.m. on April 29 is a long-desired official game. Barcelona was slapped with a ban from FIFA for breaching transfer regulations in February 2013. FIFA found that Barcelona had regularly failed to comply with its transfer regulations and extended a ban to cover six players from Barca's Cadete and Juvenil youth teams. This meant that Lee and Paik of Juvenil A and another Korean at Juvenil B, Jang Gyeol-hee, could train with their teams but were unable to play in official games until next year.  "Though my teammates are one year older than I am, I will not lag behind," Lee said. "I will lead Korea to win all three matches at the JS Cup." Paik also said he was looking forward to playing an official game. Lee has garnered interest from a series of renowned clubs, including Chelsea, and has scored 11 goals in 12 under-17 international games. This is the first time he will play with the under-18s. Paik, an attacking midfielder, is a year older than Lee and has played two under-20 games and scored one goal. Unlike most Korean juvenile talents who tend to speak humbly, Lee is ambitious and confident, just like his playing style. Lee's main strengths are his explosive dribbling and speed, which landed him the nickname the "Korean Messi." "I play for FC Barcelona, one of the best football clubs in the world," said Lee. "There is always talk that Korea lacks quality strikers. I want to be the youngest senior team member and I will score to stop such talk. Scoring ability is the most important thing for a forward and it is also a strength I possess." After the Uruguay game on May 1, Korea will face Belgium, whose senior team thrashed Korea at the 2014 Brazil World Cup, and France on May 3. The competition is hosted by JS Foundation, chaired by former Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung. "Juvenile football is fundamental for Korean football in the future," said Park. "The competition will serve as the test ground for Suwon to host the 2017 FIFA Under-17 World Cup." The 2017 Under-17 World Cup is scheduled from June 7 to July 6. In hosting the juvenile tournament, Korea will become one of few countries to host FIFA's four major football competitions _ the Confederations Cup, the World Cup, U-17 World Cup and the U-20 World Cup.