(I dunno if any of you remember that from Mortal Kombat - the first "mature" video game) Why can't Korea finish? Do we not train our kids to finish or something? I have a great idea, why don't we make youth goals smaller? But then the goalkeepers would suck. Thoughts?
Yeah. Finishing is a problem. Although I don't think the game against Japan showed a lack of finishing touch. I just think the goalie was good, when he wasn't getting himself into trouble by letting loose rebounds. How do you teach it though? I don't play soccer so I don't know if finishing is something they teach. I guess it's something you either have or you don't. Kinda like being clutch. You either make the winning shot or you don't. I dunno.
I blame the crappy dirt grounds Korean kids have to train on. The feeling is completely different on grass than on dirt.
It seems like our midfield is not the problem. It's actually Korea's strength. Maybe where the midfield is weak is at the attacking end, where people like Ahn, Lee Chun-soo, Yoo or Kim Nam-il take shots from 20-30 yards out instead of looking for that final pass. The result, we get a lot of shots on goal, but not really good shots. Still, this fails to explain Choi Yong-soo's effort against the United States.
Agree with you. Although it looked better against Japan since the Japanese keeper kept letting loose rebounds. But MF definitely looks like our strength. I think our defense looked great compared to what I thought it would be. It was pretty solid. The problem has been finishing for quite a while.
I know Hiddink was all against playing the Singapores and Vietnams of the world, but I think Korea should play these types of teams just to get into the mood. I miss the good old days where we could beat Laos or Mongolia 9-0 and feel good about it.
I don't think our finishing is THAT bad. Remember, Japan's defense is one of the better ones in the world. In the game against Japan the other night, we did try to slip in a ball to FWs in the box, but our FWs were not able to hold on to the ball long enough to shoot or the defenders didn't give them enough space. You know, our boys are not Ronaldos! Other than that, the only way to create a clear goal chance is on break aways in counter-attack situations. If our finishing is so bad, what does that make Italy's or Germany? What about Inzaghi and other Juventus players against AC Milan? I think our finishing is fine as is considering the level of players. The only way for us to beat the top teams is, in addition to the high-spirited hustle play, to score either off the cross, off the FKs and CKs, off the defender's mistakes, or on break aways. This is until we find a Korean Ronaldo, Zidane, or the whole team's ability moves up by a notch. Having said all the above, it still fails to explain Choi Yong-soo's effort against the United States. =)
I agree with Wu. Shut up and suck it up - that is, unless you can do better. Just wait til our first generation of yu-hak pa's (kids that went to brazil and europe about 6-7 years ago) comes back. We'll see improvement, or at least i hope so.
The finishing problem The finishing problem comes down to two things really: the formation and the team selection. Don't criticise our midfield as it is the driving force of our side. Notice how many games we can control against all sorts of teams... this shows that we have one hell of a midfield. I think striker09 needs to watch more games, or needs to take more football lessons. Our midfielders are creating loads of chances, but their efforts are just not met with what's needed, a clean finish. First up, the one top isn't working. Our players aren't the best in the world, bless them they work so hard. We need more than just one at the top. Three is ideal I think, and two is the minimum. The combination of Seol, Ahn and Lee CS should work very well up front. I think it should be in that order from left to right. Also we don't have a single striker who can do the job... we used to, his name was Hwang Sun-hong, but his days as a footballer are over now. Choi Yong-soo who constantly finds himself picked as that one top is not good enough. Not only not good enough, he is plain lousy. He is a bad player, he cannot create and he cannot score at international level. Yes I know he's a goal machine in the J-League, but if our opponents were of J-League caliber, we would have won the World Cup every time. Choi Yong-soo needs to go. We have plenty more better players than him, and for the extra space, put in the youth to give them more experience. I hear Coelho will be trying the 4-3-3 formation against Argentina. Although I don't think we'll be beating them, I think he should stick to either a 4-3-3, a 3-4-3 or a 3-5-2 formation. As for the defending (not really the main topic) we'll have to work hard after the departure of Hong Myung-bo.... but can anyone tell me why Choi Jin-chul isn't taking a bigger role in the defence rebuilding process? In the World Cup he was a star!