Verbeek Still Worried Despite Win

Team Korea reached the quarterfinals, but it didn’t feel very good to Pim Verbeek, coach of the Korean national soccer team. He even breathed a sigh of relief, saying, “It’s lucky we didn’t lose a goal.”

The Korean national soccer team (under 23 years of age) played a very frustrating game at the Group B finals of the men’s soccer competition, held at the Doha Asian Games. The match took place at the Al-Rayyan Football Stadium, Doha, Qatar. Thanks to Oh Beom-seok’s goal (Pohang Steelers) they beat Bahrain 1-0. With this game, Korea has recorded three consecutive wins, and went on to the quarterfinals in first place in their group. On the 10th, they will play either North Korea (1 win, 1 tie) or Japan (2 wins) who are both expected to win in Group F.

As could be seen in games against weak teams Bangladesh (3-0, win) and Vietnam (2-0, win), making goals is a problem. Listed 97th by FIFA, Bahrain is ranked lower than Korea (51st).

Korea sent up Park Chu-young (FC Seoul) as a one-top, Yeom Ki-hun (Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors), and Lee Chun-soo (Ulsan Hyundai) as the wings, Kim Doo-hyeon (Seongnam Ilwha) as an offensive midfielder, and Lee Ho (Zenit) and Oh Jang-eun (Daegu FC) as defensive midfielders. They were all looking to score, but didn’t find many opportunities. There were only 6 shots total during the first and second half, and only 2 of them were valid.

When Kim Doo-hyeon made a pass from in front of the arc to the right penalty area, Oh Beom-seok, who replaced Cho Won-hee (Suwon) as the starting lineup, passed through the defense and made a shot with his left foot. The ball flew 25 meters like a missile and landed in the top right area of the net where the Bahrain goalkeeper couldn’t reach it.

Oh Beom-seok entered the K league in 2003 and played 93 games in 4 seasons, but his presence as a national team player was weak. However, Oh Beom-seok has gone abroad to study in Brazil with Pohang’s support, and is a solid soccer prospect who can play the roles of both defender and midfielder. His hidden potential was displayed today. His father is Oh Se-gwon, who has been a committee member of the Korea Football Association and director of the Korea Football League.

Meanwhile, ‘goal-getter’ Park Chu-young has accumulated 2 warnings, and is not able to play in the quarterfinals. The team’s goalmaking ability, which is already low, will get even lower.

yjongk@donga.com