South Korea's preparations for next week's Asian Cup qualifier with Chinese Taipei have been dealt a blow with the withdrawal of striker Cho Jae-jin due to injury.

Just a day after announcing his first squad as national coach, Pim Verbeek was forced to replace the Shimizu S-Pulse star with young Suwon Samsung Bluewings forward Shin Young-rok.

Cho, a former Suwon favorite, had, according to (South) Korean Football Association media spokesman, damaged the ligaments of his right knee during training yesterday in Japan. He will be out of action for at least three weeks.

The withdrawal of Cho, who set-up Park Ji-sung's late equalizer against France during the recent World Cup, is a blow for the 2002 World Cup semi-finalists as they aim to make two wins out of two matches in the Asian Cup qualifiers following their 2-1 victory in Syria in their Group B opener in February.

The 26-year-old is also doubtful for the team's home games against Iran on September 2 and the return match with Chinese Taipei four days later.

Replacement Shin Young-rok, who played in the 2003 FIFA Under-17 World Championship and last year's World Youth Championship, is highly-regarded in South Korea.

The team departs for Taipei on Sunday and will take on Chinese Taipei at the Chungsan Stadium on Wednesday.

Source: Xinhua