Going into this tournament I read a lot about this South Korean team. Looks like they're the real deal, winning against Brazil in their opening match. Gotta watch for Lee Seung Woo, the Barcelona prodigy.
The South Koreans were very very well organized and strong in the tackle and strong in the air. You could have mistaken them for Uruguayans or Italians. As for Lee Seung Woo, he had some lovely touches and flicks and 1 good free-kick from about 30 yards and missed one good chance. Brazil dominated possession so ''the Asian Messi'' was isolated up front for large spells of the match. But he brings excitement whenever he gets the ball. Aside from his great natural ability, he is very quick which is a very important attribute to have in order to make it at the highest level as an attacking player. He might be the real deal, not just hype. If South Korea can play like this every match, they can go very far in this tournament. #14 and #8(when he came on) also look very talented. As for Brazil, I don't think they were bad but they found it really hard to create clear-cut chances with the way Korea played. One prodigy I'd recommend you to watch ( if you haven't seen him yet) is England's No.10 Marcus Edwards. He is very small(about 5ft6in maybe) and born in December but he looks different class to the other players. His close control, quick turns, dribbling and vision are a joy to watch. I've watched him play in five matches ( U17 Euro and now this world cup) and been impressed with him every time. There are rumors linking him with Barcelona. Wouldn't surprise me if they were true. He does look like ''a Barca type player''.
The match against Australia kicks off in 45 minutes. Here is our starting eleven : -------------------Frommann------------------ Busam----- Gül------Abu Hanna-----Karakas ----------------Janelt-------Dorsch------------ Passlack--------------Özcan----------Köhlert -------------------Eggestein-------------------- I like this starting eleven a lot. Maybe I would have tried Burnic at left-back with Karakas starting over Abu Hanna at CB but, aside from that, I wouldn't have changed anything. Let's see how they do.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CRngLBSUYAAcaCr.jpg:large According to this paper, Eggestein is only 179cm tall. Kirsten won't be happy about that. We all thought he was 182cm tall(because of transfermarkt). His hold up play is pretty good, though, despite his height. Köhlert only 164cm ? Wow, he really needs 5-6 more cm. And Australia have a Fortuna Duesseldorf player.
This is the stream I am using http://www.sportingvideo.net/20151018/vv5623b6ae9054b5.09965125-1172287.html
Australia are trying to play tiki taka with a very high defensive line. It's a recipe for disaster against this German team. Their players look good technically though. They showed some very good combination play. Their style of play surprised me. They should stick to this philosophy and they could reap the rewards over the long term.
And what an assist by Özcan. He has now assisted all 4 goals for Germany. I really liked him at the U17 Euro. People in the know say that he is the biggest talent in Köln's academy(and Köln have a pretty good academy in case you didn't already know).
Pretty Good Performance in the First Game. Just wondering that can't Niklas Schmidt even starts as a line-up? Thought he is the best No.10 player in this age group.
Schmidt was hurt last week during a test match against a Chilean club youth team. The injury is not serious, he's just sitting this one out.