U.S.A “Can’t Lose to Korea Twice“

"We cannot lose to Korea again."

As they will face Korea in the CONCACAF Gold Cup match on the 20th, the U.S. national soccer team players seemed intensely nervous in the training at Pomona College field in Pasadena of Los Angeles, U.S.A.

The team’s head coach Bruce Arena continuously raised his voice, never sitting on the bench, and the players made their best effort, like soldiers on a battlefield.

They could not, however, hide their overwhelming anxiety over playing against Korea soon.

On December 9 last year, the U.S. team lost to Korea by 0-1 in the World Cup outpost match held at the Jeju World Cup Stadium for its opening commemoration service, and the conditions for the second match is not encouraging.

European leaguers like Earnie Stewart (NAC Breda, Netherlands) and Joe-Max Moore (Everton, England) have withdrawn, leaving the team to domestic leaguers only. Currently, public attention in the U.S. is focused on the National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Football League (NFL), but acute criticism will still fall on the soccer team in case they lose to Korea again.

Domestic leaguers such as the rising star, Landon Donovan, and `veteran` midfielder, Cobi Jones are reliable, but the absence of the European players is making coach Arena nervous.

Outwardly, Arena said, "The players are being testing until the Gold Cup.", but he is looking to win. While Korea was training openly before the press, the U.S. tried to hide their weaknesses as much as possible by closing the training scene to the public with the excuse that "Players cannot concentrate in front of the cameras."

Arena also urgently called in Kasey Keller on the 16th, who is currently playing in England. Keller is competing with goalkeeper Brad Friedel for the starting position. Furthermore, he brought in Colorado Rapids’ Glenn Myernick as head assistant coach to carefully analyze the Korean team.

Meanwhile, the Korean national soccer team is playing a friendly match with LA Galaxy, to which present national players including Cobi Jones, Danny Califf, and Greg Vanney belong.

For the match, coach Guss Hiddink is counting on Kim Do-Hun (32) and Cha Doo-Ri (22) as `two top` players, and Lee Chun-Su as the playmaker.

Keuk-In Bae bae2150@donga.com