The Weak Links…A guide to our opposition

The last time around, Korea won their initial game by attacking. Against the U.S., they were down a goal but dominating the game throughout, and luckily found an equalizer. Against Portugal, they stuck to their guns and eventually frustrated the Portuguese into committing endless fouls until they were down to 9 men.

But when confronted to a superior talent, like Italy? What to do then?

In my match recapping, I explained how Korea didn’t win the match against Italy, Italy simply lost it. It’s to Korea’s credit that they were able to run at top speed right until the end, but against Spain and Germany, they had nothing left in the tank. So I doubt that Advocaat will be espousing a ‘run until the gauge reads empty’ strategy this time around.

Here’s my list of weak points that the Korean team should be attacking against their respective teams.

Vs. France

Dommenech’s aging squad is talented but far from perfect. They’ll be building the team around Zidane, which means a 3-4-3 or a 4-4-2 formation, with Zidane working at the head of a diamond-shaped midfield or else as a center left midfielder; feeding Trezuguet and Henry. The problem here is that France rely on a one-touch passing rhythm, and then once the rhythm is broken, they need a few minutes to set their lines again.

In this game, I would recommend a 3-4-3 formation, because our back line is far from solid; Henry and Trezuguet on their own, given space, can score with a minimum of effort. But playing with three strikers, two up front and a staggered central striker behind the other two, will provide us with all the tools we need to get a few quick goals.

Key players: Vikash Dhorasoo (a pacy and wiry midfielder, who’s very underrated), Sylvain Wiltord (scores key goals; also one to watch for). I would have expected Ludovic Giuly to figure into their plans (and he may yet do so), but after shooting his mouth off in the press recently, I’m sure that’s put the kibosh on his tickets to Deutschland.

Vs.
Switzerland

If there’s any team that will be hard for Korea to beat, it will be the unpredictable Switzerland, who play an incredibly boring game of football, but occasionally manage to put a game away when you least expect it. On top of that, it’s a very young squad, and while they lack experience on the field, the main advantage to having a young team is that they’re eager to please, and generally unafraid. As long as veterans like Vogel and Frei can keep the youngsters in line, they’re capable of upsets.

Both Korea and Switzerland are pretty evenly matched in every department–both squads are thoroughly mediocre, both boast lacklustre fullbacks, and both teams depend on counter-attacks to win games. Switzerland, playing so much closer to home, will have the crowd support they need, and it’s necessary for our team to dictate the pace of the game from the onset. I could see this one ending in a draw. 3-4-3 should work, once again.

Key player: Defender Phillipe Senderos, who’s work with Arsenal has been outstanding recently.

Vs. Togo

Two months before the tournament, and I still don’t know much about Togo, except that it’s a small country that’s playing in the World Cup for the very first time. I paid a bit of attention to the African qualifiers, and considering the teams that lost out were perennial champions such as Cameroon, Senegal, and Egypt. The question remains whether the five teams that qualified were that good, or whether the traditional powers simply choked.

Either way, we’ll find out this summer, and as the team’s been happy just to qualify, they’ll be playing with absolutely no pressure on their shoulders, something that cannot be said about France or Korea.
Here’s an article with Togo defender Jean-Paul Abalo who plays for Cypriot club Nicosia; he rates Togo as on par with Korea and Switzerland, and he’s probably not wrong, in that individually, each of them can’t really compare to France, but collectively as team units, they’ve all got an equal shot at the second qualifying spot in the group. If Korea is to get past Togo, they’ve got to win the physical battles and maintain a quick pace throughout the match. Slower teams tend to rely on set-pieces, which in the later stages of any game are the equivalent of playing scratch ‘n’ win.

I saw some footage of their last match against Angola, but they won’t likely be facing other African teams even if they get past the first round. I’ll be rooting for them all the way.

Key players: Emmanuel Adebayor was the top scorer (11 goals) in African qualifying. He’ll likely wish to continue on towards the golden boot this summer.