Korean Soccer: ‘The Day of Rehabilitation’

The Korean team’s general mobilization of the players who belong to the foreign leagues.

Korea team’s coach Coelho, who has been in trouble due to the slump in the second qualifying round of Asian Cup, chose the general mobilization of all the players who play in the foreign leagues as a solution to the problem. He seems to try to resolve the pressing problem through the de facto “Dream team of Korean soccer.” It is the first time in almost one year that the players of the World Cup stood together under the name of Korea since its loss in the evaluation game against Brazil (2-3) on November 20 last year.

Coelho chose the three-back system, which means returning to Hiddink’s system. Although he has stuck to the four-back system since joining the team, it indicates he will not stick to his style but instead run the game by strategies more convenient to the Korean players.

With what strategy? Who plays?

Coelho held the first and last training session in the afternoon on November 17, with all players present. On the same day, the Korea team exercised various strategies based on the “3-4-3” formation, which is similar to that at the World Cup. It also includes the “3-4-1-2” formation.

The forward positions, which are most intriguing, will most likely include Kim Do-hoon (Seongnam Ilhwa) -- who recorded the most scores -- and Choi Yong-soo (Ichhara) –who is the fourth highest-scorer in the J-league and who joined the competition. Ahn Jung-hwan (Shimizu), who has recorded scores for three consecutive games, was considered for forward striker and attacking middle-fielder. Lee Chun-soo (Real Sociedad), Park Ji-sung (Einthoven) and Cha Du-ri (Frankfurt) are likely to play as the wing-attackers.

In the middle field, Kim Nam-il (Chunnam Dragons) and Lee Eul-yong (Anyang LG) will form the first line and Lee Young-Pyo (Einthoven) and Song Chong-gug (Feyenoord) will connect the offense and defense as the left and right defense middle-fielder respectively. Yoo Sang-chul (Yokohama) will take charge of the defense and Lee Sang-hun and Park Jae-hong (Chunbuk) will play on the left and right side respectively.

Bulgarian team is second-class

The Bulgarian team, which arrived in Korea on November 16, held practice in the evening on November 17. The team has lost a substantial amount of its strength because six main players could not join the team. Players that will not play for the Bulgarian team include attackers Dimitar Berbatow (Bayer Leverkusen) and Stilian Petrov (Celtic Glasgow), who were both excluded due to injuries.

The Bulgarian team will make Martin Kambrov (Rocomotive Flovdiv) -- who has recorded 12 scores in the Bulgarian league -- and Emil Gargorov (CSKA Sofia) -- the main attacker of the youth team -- play in the game against the Korean team.

Sang-Ho Kim hyangsan@donga.com