“Can You Count, Suckas?”

Swiss no doubt looks stronger a team than South Korea, especially after today game. But the Korean spirit is impressive. I think the game between the two will be a good game to watch.

Posted from  United States

Hoa, I agree and disagree. Korea can actually give the Swiss a run for their money, depending on whether or not they choose to play! I mean, for 80 minutes against France they did virtually nothing right. In fact, they did virtually nothing!And the Korean backline…wow, they’re definitely the weakest link. (Esp. the centre-right back)

Advocaat has been doing a poor job of coaching them too. He needs to tell them to PRESSURE the ball, run at them instead of standing in the box, waiting to be attacked!

If they show a little bit of spark on defense, then they can gain more possession and string together a few good chances in the Swiss half of the pitch…fingers crossed!

Posted from  Switzerland

대~한민국

Posted from  Republic Of Korea

I agree, Togo was surprisingly strong. Good on them. And if they manage to get the upset they deserve against France, then Switzerland and Korea will both qualify independent of the direct result.

Obviously, none of the teams will want to rely on Togo. The Swiss are in the better positon, as a draw will be good enough, whatever the French do. It will be difficult to score against Switzerland, but we’ve seen in both games that the defense is breakable with the right amount of pressure.

Clearly, both of us would prefer to play Ukraine. Probably the Swiss even more, as we’ve never beaten them and actually lost against Spain (3-0) at our last WC (94 in the USA).

I reckon, we shall see both teams come out with a cautious attacking tactic. If the Swiss happen to score first, they’ll probably shift into a defensive tactic as they still qualify even if Korea equalises.

It should be a good match, as still everything is possible.

Posted from  Australia

Kim Young-Hwal:

Direct and to the point!

Posted from  Republic Of Korea

I’m not suprise with the Corea performance coz they play well in last World Cup!! I think Corea has the posibility to win Swiss. Can’t deny that Swiss is a strong team but Corea’s player is improving as they manage to get draw with the France! Besides, they the win Togo by 2:1!! It’s really hard for Corea to defeat the Togo in terms of their size some more the Togo plays so rude!! So i think Corea has the posibility to win Swiss!!

Posted from  Malaysia

I’ll support Corea forsure!! Ahza Ahza figthting!! Corea is strong team too!!

Posted from  Malaysia

finally! some korea stuff.

i disagree with this sentence though:

The problem isn’t whether Korea will qualify, it’s who would they rather play out of Group H

the problem IS qualification. a draw or loss plus a french win by 2 goals (1 goal if it’s a loss) means we’re out. the big question is, how will our tactics change as a result? we’ve been mostly slowing down the first half and attacking opponents in the second when they’re tired. but do we do that against a swiss side that looked pretty strong near the end against togo and france? i’m not so sure we can out-run the swiss.

Posted from  United States

Advocaat’s strategy of sitting back, trying to draw out the opponent, and then counter, is very dangerous. We saw Togo try to do the same thing against Switzerland yesterday but it backfired because the Swiss were able to establish an offensive rhythm with great touches all around.

In order to pressure the Swiss early, Korea must start Ahn or Seol up front. When they play together with Park Ji Sung the attack is much smoother, and Korea has decent control of the middle.

In our first two matches we did not threaten enough inside the box and the opponents were able to set the tone with early goals. We can’t afford to rely on another comeback with the Swiss.

Posted from  United States

OK, I’ve chilled. But it sure is nice to have some new stuff on Korea. As a Korea fan, I just did not feel enuf looooove from you.

Well, lets c how Korean plays wif Swiss then..!! I’m sure Korea has their own tactic!!

Posted from  Malaysia

This is how I hope this whole thing works out.

Match 54 – 1G Korea Rep. vs 2H Ukraine (2-1) Korea wins

Match 58 – W53 – Italy vs W54 – Korea (3-1) Italy wins

Now you can call me a dreamer or whatever you like but I feel Korea could top this group.

But a rematch of that crazy game would be interesting.

Go Korea Go !

Posted from  United States

haha if Ukraine has to play Korea, thats fine by me, Ukraine will spank you ;O)

good luck

Posted from  United States

JL

I couldn’t agree more. First of all, I can’t believe what a poor job Advocaat is doing with the Korean back 4. (At least it’s not 3 anymore.)
I know he’s not going to turn them into stars overnight, but c’mon…he at least has to yell at them to GO for the ball instead of sitting in the box, get a boot up when someone attempts to cross.

And you’re right about getting Ahn in there. The goal they scored against France came about because Ahn came in and he’s the only one really who knows how to play pivot. So he got the ball, laid it off nicely to Young Pyo for the cross, and boom….we need more of that, damnit! Why can’t Dick and co. see that?
Hopefully they’ll learn from it a bit and play with more spark

Posted from  Switzerland

I’d say 1/8 is the highest we should realistically hope for. And that’s if we can avoid playing Spain in the round of 16.

I believe Advocaat wants a strong finish in each game more than anything else; that’s why he brings Ahn on late in a game, and that’s when ALL the Korean players also happen to step up their game. I’m not sure if it is Ahn himself that helps energize the team, or just the timing. It seems more like the timing to me. I don’t think Ahn Jung-Hwan is a good starter. He can be inconsistent and just playing for a longer time could wear him out. When he shines, he really does shine, but he seems to need certain conditions to be just right.

I don’t know why we haven’t seen very much of Song Chong-Gug, or Park Chu Young.

Seriously though…in the first part of the match against France, the Korean players looked like shaky amateurs. And I hate it when they keep playing “hot-potato” among themselves on their own side of the field (and often…not very well! The passes don’t even look secure or all that accurate…though it did get better when they were all fired up towards the end.) They really don’t seem to know what to do with it and it seems like each of them wants someone else to make the first move. It’s really frustrating…like, they’re not supposed to be newcomers anymore! What have they been practicing for the past 4 years?! Or how about…when they’re passing to each other, and then suddenly, one of them just plain VOLLEYS it across the field. I HATE that. I see it over and over again and they just lose possession of the ball like 90% of the time. STOP DOING THAT.

You can’t be telling me that I watch more soccer than they play soccer. Gahhhhhhhhhhh.

Posted from  Canada

For you guys reading the WC Korean blog, just a reminder that there was extremely shady officiating in the games against portugal, italy, and spain in 2002. obviously the host country found a way to pay off the refs. sadly, since everyone saw the replay that france scored a second goal, we may see another case of koreans advancing with the help of refs…why cant korea win without a questionable red card, penalty or the opponent getting goals disallowed?? how about a 2-0 korean win?? they cant

Posted from  United States

Louis

On 2002: there were questionable calls and non-calls for both sides in the Portugal and Italy matches. But Korea played hard, went at the Portugese and Italians hard, created lots of very good chances, they really surprised me. That’s why I think they deserved the wins, the questionable calls aside. That’s why the Portugese, after grousing a bit about the officiating, were gracious enough to say that in the end Korea had played well and deserved their win.
Italy was a different story, of course, since some thought Totti deserved a penalty, and then you had the offside…
But the refs also missed the high tackle on the Korean defender, which was in my opinion egregious, worthy of a red card even. And if THAT had been granted, if it were eleven to ten, well the way korea were pressing they could have scored more.
In fact, if Ahn hadn’t missed his penalty, and if Buffon hadn’t made a couple of typically magnificent saves (damn he’s so good, Buffon), including the one where he streeeetched like a mofo to block the clever free kick that skidded under the azzuri line towards the corner of the net, well, Korea could have been up 2 at that point. Anyways.
The point is, there were questionable calls, as with any game. But Korea played well in patches, they created their chances.
Spain: Korea did nothing right, they were spent, and the calls there were NOT as questionable. You can’t make the argument that Korea won that game, at all. I still wish in fact that Spain had simply won, then Korea could’ve gone home and we could’ve called it a good run. Instead the lasting memory is of a Spanish side clearly beating a spent Korean side, and still losing, so that in many eyes the entire Korean run was tainted.
Oh well. Nuff of that history tho.

ALTERNABABE: you’re totally right, the Korean defense was wretched. (Actually, a poor game from the entire team^)
I chalk it up to nerves…I mean, there aren’t any Maldinis or Carloses in the Korean backline, to put it mildly. But they should still be able to play aggressive, and not do STOOPID things like pass the ball back to each other across the face of the goal! And their touches were horrible, their feet were made of lead they could hardly control the ball. That I chalk up to nerves. And Advocaat’s ill-advised strategy of sitting back, instead of pressuring the ball. I hope Dick’s learnt from that and makes sure he tells the Korean defenders to RUN at the ball this time! Who IS that Korean central right defender? I think he ought to win the award for crappiest player in the world cup, ever. He lacks skill, and gets pushed around just about every time, blows his assignments, and doesn’t appear to know whom he’s supposed to mark! What’s his name? Meh, they ought to bench him, seriously. He’s the guy who got beat on every goal scored against Korea, hell practically every serious run at the Korean goal went through him.
Anyways, the point is that people are going to score against Korea, period. We just need to minimize that damage, I hope, and then hopefully string together some chances of our own, then win outright this time. (LOUIS is right on this one: France should’ve won 2-1 against Korea. Hell, they should’ve won by far more given how shaky the defense was in the first half)

Posted from  Switzerland

Even if they have quite the same results against France and Togo, I don’t believe in Korea. They didn’t show real good things (except spririt and energy). Switzerland did.
Anyway a draw is of course possible.

Posted from  France

Korea has an excellent chance of beating the Swiss who have neither the speed nor firepower or France or Togo on offence.

The Swiss can play marvelous defence however.

To win Korea needs to bank on their assets: speed, fitness and endurance.

Ahn is not in as a starter because he cannot last the whole 90 minutes so the coach puts him in as a sub.

France vs Togo is a biggie…the French need to find the net and quickly. They need to win by at least 2 goals to have anuy real shot (unless Korea or the Swiss lose that is….).

As for 2002, I agree with luke drift. Louis, you made a bad assumption about 2002 and the refs.

Especially the Italy game. The only real reason the Italians lost is their lack of effort after the first goal when they sat on the lead and stoped trying…Korea kept pushing and finally won out…

Posted from  Canada

luke drift, re: France vs. Korea, France should’ve mowed over the Koreans. If France (strong footballing history; former WC champions) couldn’t manage to do that against jittery Korean nerves and earn a nonambiguous win, then I’m not going to concede that could-be/maybe-not goal (technology is so very underused for such a big international event, it’s baffling. Where are the cameras?)

But yeah, you’re right and I forgot to mention that too often there were French forwards dashing right through Korean territory just waiting out in the open for a buddy to pass them the ball, with Korean defenders idly standing around trying to make passive obstacles of themselves instead of actively trying to block (or mark, as you say) the opponents. It’s really quite mystifying to me how, well…clueless the Korean defenders seem. Poor goalie. Yet, I still don’t mind that as much as when the Koreans are controlling the ball (tentatively) and still recklessly give it away, in some sort of systematic fashion, as if they believe it really is a good strategy. Watch for it next time. I’m going to yell at the TV if I see them doing the putt-putt-putt-VOLLEY.

As for the 2002 WC, I felt that Spain was the most blatantly–and suspiciously–cheated out of the game. Cheering them on this year, they’re playing well. Umm, I would comment more about that in terms of other issues but this isn’t really the place; suffice to say that I do suspect something sinister was behind it as well and I don’t think I’m the only Korean who sees it and hates the notion. Italy was rough (good skills notwithstanding); Portugal I don’t remember much. If the Koreans’ runs or characters are tainted I blame anyone “at the [Korean] top” who is responsible for any shady dealings, assh*les. Don’t they realize it either?

It’s in the next generation of Korean soccer players where I’ll truly be expecting real talent, starting with Lee Dong-Gook.

Addendum: Do team-oriented sports like soccer really find it necessary to have a coach-mastermind? Why couldn’t, in theory, a team assemble itself, under the leadership of a team captain? Just a thought.

Posted from  Canada

please… Cheer for Korea! I want all of you guys to see my note and cheer for Korea!

Posted from  Republic Of Korea

YAY 4 SALLY
I’M GLAD TO C A BETTER POINT OR VIEW ON KOREA.
GEEZ…SO MANY PPL R RACIST AGAINST KOREA CUZ 2002 WORLD CUP. WE DIDN’T MEAN TO BREAK SO MANY HEARTS LAST TIME…WE JUST DID OUR BEST…IS THERE A PROB????

Posted from  United States