Korean National Team Tie Leaves Beijing Games in Doubt

Questions concerning the Korean national soccer team’s fate in qualifying for the Beijing Olympic Games won’t be answered until its November 21 final match against Bahrain.

Needing a win to secure their entry into the Olympics in the 4th Asian regional preliminaries match against Syria yesterday, the national squad ended up with a 0-0 tie.

The Korean team finished with a 3-0-1 (10 points) record, good enough for first-place in its group B, but the door remains open for Bahrain, which pulled out a 2-0 victory over Uzbekistan for a 3-1-0 record.

Each regional group will be given an Olympic berth for its first-place finisher. Korea still has a November 21 game against Bahrain. As for Bahrain, a November 17 match against Syria is set before an eventual meeting with Korea on November 21. The latter date will set the stage for its final push for the coveted berth. Since a Bahrain victory is widely predicted in light of the weak Syrian squad, Korea’s Olympic bid is likely to be decided by this final clash with Bahrain.

At the helm of the Bahrain team is Coach Milan Macala, a Czech national noted for his strong showings against Korea in the past. In 2003’s Asian qualifying rounds, he coached Oman to a win over Korea, an upset sending headlines in the latter as the “Oman Shock.” He also coached the Bahrain national team over the Koreans earlier this year.

Korean National Football Team Coach Park Seong-hwa did manage to get the Macala-monkey off his back with a 1-0 victory against Bahrain in the two squads’ September 8 meeting. But experts agree that a combination of careful strategic planning and better physical training will be necessary for Park and his players to repeat their success.

Match-ups in ‘Group C’ featured Qatar’s 2-1 upset over Japan, which displaced the latter from its lead into second place. Qatar and Japan are sitting on identical records of 2-1-1 (7 points), but the point differentials put Qatar in a more favorable position.

In Group A, a scoreless draw between Australia and Lebanon put the Aussie squad in second place behind the leader Iraq.

bluesky@donga.com