Soccer Team Seeks 1st Win & Goal for Coach

Will national soccer coach Huh Jung-moo show what he can really do with his team?

The Taegeuk Warriors play their first Asian qualifier for the 2010 World Cup tomorrow against Turkmenistan at Seoul World Cup Stadium at 8 p.m.

○ 3 Premier Leaguers to play

Huh last year became Korea’s first domestic coach in seven years, but lost in his debut last week in an exhibition game against Chile, 1-0. For the Turkmenistan qualifier, however, his team will start three England-based players who missed the Chile game -- Park Ji-sung (Manchester United), Lee Young-pyo (Tottenham Hotspurt) and Seol Ki-hyeon (Fulham).

The coach is expected to employ the 4-3-3 formation with striker Park Chu-young (FC Seoul) in the middle, and Park Ji-sung and Seol on the flanks. To enhance the attack, Park Ji-sung will play left wing instead of offensive midfielder. Lee will lead the defense at left wingback.

○ Avenging defeat by Turkmenistan

Korea is 45th in the world soccer rankings, well ahead of 128th-place Turkmenistan. Yet the Taegeuk Warriors in their first A-match against the Central Asian country lost 3-2 in the 1998 Bangkok Asiad. Ironically, that loss was Huh’s first game as coach.

○ Who will finally score for Korea?

Korea has not scored a goal in 506 minutes dating back to last year’s Asian Cup, when Kim Jung-woo scored in a Group D match against Indonesia in July. In that tournament, the team failed to score against Iran, Iraq and Japan. Thus the team needs to restore confidence by breaking its seven-month goal drought.

yjongk@donga.com