SEOUL (AFP) - No-nonsense Dutch coach Pim Verbeek has won his battle with K-League bosses who have caved in and agreed to cancel crunch matches this weekend so players can attend an Asian Cup training camp.

Verbeek and the K-League have been feuding over the availability of players ahead of the tournament next month, with the Dutchman slamming the league for playing too many games in the build-up.

Clubs had balked at his insistence on summoning the national team this Saturday morning, which would have forced the players to miss league matches scheduled for later that day.

Some teams threatened not to release their players at a board meeting Thursday, the Korea Times reported, but they backed down after the Korean Football Association (KFA) rejected pleas to delay the call-up.

Instead they agreed to postpone Saturday's league matches until October 14. In response, the KFA compromised by cancelling a national friendly slated for October 13.

"Under football regulations, players must report to the national team two weeks before an international tournament, which would be June 23 in this case," K-League secretary general Kim Won-Dong was quoted as saying.

But, in a dig at Verbeek's insistence that they report in the morning, he added: "However, we believe that this rule means that the players could report anytime before midnight."

According to Kim, some clubs insisted on going ahead with Saturday's matches without the national team players, considering that tickets had already been sold, but a national boycott was never really on the cards

"An impressive performance in the Asian Cup will do a lot of good for the game of football in this country, so the clubs have decided to grant Verbeek's wish and will have its players report to the national team by 9am on June 23," he said.

South Korea, which made the World Cup semi-finals in 2002, have not won the Asian Cup since 1960 and are desperate to lift the trophy.

But they have been depleted by injury with Manchester United's Park Ji-Sung at Manchester United, Tottenham star Lee Young-Pyo and Reading's Seol Ki-Hyeon all ruled out.

The team will head to the southern island of Jeju to train with warm-up games set against Iraq on June 29 and Uzbekistan on July 5.

They are grouped with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Indonesia at the Asian Cup with their first match against the Saudis on July 11.