Korea Arms with Young Players to Conquest Africa

With the 2002 World Cup ahead, the Korean national team will have an evaluation game with Senegal that is the last game against the African team at Jeonju Stadium at 7: 00 pm on 8th. The Korean team is scheduled to have over 10 A-matches until the opening of the World Cup, but there is no match with the African team among them.

Since 5 African countries advanced to the final round of the World Cup, the Korean team will be likely to meet one of them at first round constituting eight groups. So, the Korean team needs to acquire the confidence by defeating Senegal in this evaluation game.

The Korean team has earned the relatively good results in games with the African teams thus far. Even since Head Coach Guus Hiddink began to lead the team, the Korean team has recorded one win and two draws against the African teams as follows; a 0-0 draw in game with Cameroon in May, and a 2-2 draw and a 2-1 win in two-time encounter with Nigeria in September.

Regarding the fact that the Korean team has shown the firm performance against the African, Huh Jung-Moo, Donga Ilbo soccer columnist, analyzed that since the African players have the excellent personal abilities with relatively weak teamwork, the quick speed and the pressing tactics have paid for the Korean team.

However, it will be hard to say that the Korean team has been definitely superior to the African teams because it never faced the best 11 of those teams. To think of the matter calmly, the Korean team could obtain good result only facing the fatigued opponents that were invited to our home.

But this evaluation game with Senegal team is going to be different. The leading offender Elhadji Diouf will participate with other best players, and the Senegal team, in particular, has shown the remarkable rising tendency, compared to Nigeria and Cameroon that recently lost the spirit. Head Coach Hiddink is well aware of its brunt, saying, ``The Senegalese players have the excellent speed and physical strength, and the counterattack following the long pass is threatening.``

As the overseas players in Japan and Europe have postponed joining the team, the Korean team will construct the formation centering on the domestic players. Especially, relatively young players are supposed to participate in this game. Choi Jin-Cheol, Song Jong-Gook and Lee Min-Sung will be employed in the defensive line, and Lee Dong-Gook, Choi Tae-Wook and Lee Cheon-Soo will lead the offense. And the midfield position will be taken by Kim Tae-Young, Lee Young-Pyo, Kim Nam-Il, and Lee Eul-Yong. In this game, Head Coach Hiddink has to bear the double burden to test the possibility of these young powers and simultaneously to maintain the confidence against the African team.

bae2150@donga.com