The national soccer team will depart for Los Angeles on Saturday on a 19-day training trip ahead of the regional preliminaries for the 2006 World Cup Games.

During their trip, the South Korean footballers will hold a string of matches, playing Columbia on January 16th, Paraguay on the 20th, and Sweden three days later on the 23rd.

Team Korea is seeking to make its sixth consecutive appearance at the World Cup's main round of playoffs and the upcoming trip to the U.S. is aimed at getting the squad up to speed before it plays Kuwait on February 9th in the first of its preliminary regionals.

Meanwhile, South Korea's under-20 youth soccer team led by coach Park Seong-hwa is set to rev up for the world youth soccer championship, to be held this June in the Netherlands. The team will head for the Middle Eastern state of Qatar next week to engage in soccer friendlies with eight countries.