Scouting each opponent: South Korea

Discussion in 'FIFA and Tournaments' started by Murat.Marshal, Dec 19, 2005.

  1. Murat.Marshal

    Murat.Marshal New Member

    Feb 4, 2005
    I got this idea from group C.

    How do you play against South Korea? What are their strengths and weaknesses?

    Discuss
     
  2. toohyper

    toohyper Member+

    Mar 23, 2004
    MI/NJ/NY
    Club:
    Gwangju FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Korea Republic
    So far from what i've seen as a Korean.

    Korea physically can play against European NTs. Not sure what their state of stamina is at the moment but our team were very energetic and non-tiring in 2002. Workhorse players like Park Ji-Sung and Lee Young-Pyo can give troubles throughout the match. What Korean lacks is speed in defense and our defense right now currently is the concern. We have a fat aging goalkeeper and while we have good strikers, Korean Strikers are very known for their poor finishing. Creativity is not a problem but finishing is. Lee Dong-Guk is probably our best finisher. We have a 20 year old striker name Park Ju-Young who has become a phenom in his rookie year in the Korea League and supposedly a future star. Our attackers and mid-fielders have speed though.

    Basically, Korea's weakness right now is our defense and our fat goalkeeper. I mean our goalkeeper (Lee Woon-Jae) is still reliable but the guy is just getting fatter by the minute. Our finishing should be a concern but i still think our current team is capable of scoring 2-3 goals on a good day.

    Maybe some Korean poster might disagree with some of the things i wrote, but that's my opinion of the team at the moment.
     
  3. hanul21

    hanul21 Guest

    i agree with what you said about our Korean strikers except the speed part.... one, apart from Lee Dong Gook, who else finishes good for South Korea? Lee Chun Soo who had a stint in La Liga cant score for !@$!@^# but you have to admit he's a pretty fast player.. Cha Doo Ri? lets face it, he wont be what is father was, hes fast but just cant get the ball in the net..
     
  4. toohyper

    toohyper Member+

    Mar 23, 2004
    MI/NJ/NY
    Club:
    Gwangju FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Korea Republic
    Hanul, are you talking out of your a** again like you usually do? Or are you talking to yourself again? Read my post again.

    I said the defense lacks speed. I said our strikers and mid-fielders have speed. And i said our strikers can't finish for shyt.

    i said Lee Dong-Guk is really our only striker with reliable finishing skills.

    And i know Lee Chun-Soo and Cha Doo-Ri has speed. Ahn Jung-Hwan has speed, Seol Ki Hyeon for a big guy has some real good pace and Lee Dong Guk might not be the fastest but has enough pace to compete against players.

    So exactly, what the f*** is your point hanul? Did i say Korean strikers have no speed? No. Did i say Korean strikers can finish? No. You're going nowhere with your dumb post.

    I realize your posts hanul, your "opinion" really consists of opinions you heard from other members. Maybe you should start trying to think on your own. Second, stop making a fool out of yourself. I'm really sick of telling you this.
     
  5. ursula

    ursula Member

    Feb 21, 1999
    Republic of Cascadia
    That will do boys. Settle down. toohyper- in this forum you have to let slide posters who you think are absolutely nuts. As long as they aren't violating the TOS. That means you can't attack them for those thoughts. You can disagree with them without attacking them.


    Back to the thread topic.


    Here are my thoughts, uninformed as they are: In 02 South Korea enjoyed three broad advantages as far as I could see- a) those amazing crowds/ home field advantage, b) great work rate, and c) excellent tactical strategy.

    - Home field is, alas, no longer there and if past indications of other teams is anything to go by, that's big.

    - The work rate however can make up for a lot in WC play especially against teams that have players that don't or can't go at the exceedingly fast pace of the WC for 90 minutes. IMO this could be big still for South Korea in this group as at least one team here won't want to face 90 minutes of hell. Very high pace and work rate together can make up for some of the technical deficiencies (poor finishing) if applied right.

    - But to be applied right the right overall strategy and tactical play must be applied. Does Korea have the right leadership on the sidelines?
     
  6. toohyper

    toohyper Member+

    Mar 23, 2004
    MI/NJ/NY
    Club:
    Gwangju FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Korea Republic
    Reason why i got mad is because this guy is "disagreeing with me" on things i never said. I said Korean strikers have speed but this guy goes on to say " agree with what you said about our Korean strikers except the speed part" and then explains how Lee Chun-Soo and Cha Doo-Ri has speed, which i have clearly stated that Korean strikers have. And this isn't the first time he's making posts like this, that's why i got mad. But i apologize for that.

    I agree with you though, we do not have home field advantage and that's going to be a huge, especially since Korea doesn't play that well in European soil. Workrate is something S.K. can offer and imo, that's going to be a huge factor in our success. If you have seen some exhibition matches in 03-04, Korean NT wasn't the same because some players were slacking off or being lazy.
     
  7. AminKor02

    AminKor02 New Member

    Jun 20, 2002
    Does anyone have the projected starting side for Korea?

    How does the current coach match with Hiddink as far as team preparation and tactics?

    I haven't seen much of them lately, but it seems finishing has been a problem. Can that be accounted for with the aforementioned laziness? This is where that homefield advantage was important. In front of the home crowd, there was no laziness. I hope they can capture that sense of intensity this time around. They have to prove they can win a WC match outside of Korea, and I think they will. I saw them in qualifying at (I think it was) Ukraine last May and they didn't look very good.

    And speaking of finishing, when I first saw Lee Chun-soo I was impressed with his quickness. It wasn't long though before I noticed he was a punk who couldn't get the ball in the net. Has he grown up at all in the last couple of years? I hope I don't see his name on the roster...
     
  8. toohyper

    toohyper Member+

    Mar 23, 2004
    MI/NJ/NY
    Club:
    Gwangju FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Korea Republic
    Well it's hard to project a lineup for WC 06 because a lot of our star players from the 02 Squad are either injured and/or haven't been in good form or Both really (Kim Nam Il, Song Chong Gug, etc.). And Lee Chun-Soo was also not in the best form in terms of mentality wise after his spaniard club Numancia got relegated and he was dumped back to his old Korean club.

    We only played three matches under Advocaat (former Glasgow Rangers manager) in all exhibition match. It's hard to tell at this point but he's been pulling the right buttons so far with results of 1-1 draw with Iran, 2-2 draw with Sweden's B squad and 2-0 win over Serbia/Montenegro. From what i'm hearing, i heard he's not really all that impressed with Park Ju-Young who is supposedly the future of Korean soccer. And he brought back Lee Eul-Yong who the previous coach (Bonfrere) refused to do.

    Qualifying in Ukraine? I highly doubt it. Maybe you're talking about a U-20 match they had against Ukraine a year or two ago. I personally think Korea has been a lazy team since the 02 WC but that sort of changed as of late. Korean strikers are usually can create and trust me, most of our matches (even during the struggling period), we create and create and create but we just couldn't net the ball. Like in EAFF tournament where Korea finished dead last, all our 3 matches we created and dominated but we just couldn't net the ball.

    Lee Chun-Soo like i previously said was going through a rough time, being dumped like that. He came back to the K-League in the 2nd half and as he played more matches, he was really unstoppable at times. In the playoffs, he was without a doubt THE best player. Lee Chun-Soo helped Ulsan win the K-League Championship. He scored a hat-trick in the 1st leg of the championship and had an assist or two. You had to watch him, he was doing everything right. Running past defenders, beautiful crosses, good dribbling and just netted the ball. I don't know what happen or if it happen, but Lee Chun-Soo is considered highly to win the K-League MVP and that's impressive since he started playing in the 2nd half of the season.

    He is known to have an attitude problem and some supporters can't take it, but i find it rather amusing and entertaining. There's always a player or two that has that type of ego on any NT and he's definitley the one for Korea. His form right now is in terrific and there were rumours about Lee Chun-Soo joining Lee Young-Pyo in tottenham but only a rumour. And he also went on to saying that he would love to play for Chelsea or Barca.

    So basically, Lee Chun-Soo without a doubt is in the squad and possibly be a starter if the World Cup Squad were to be annouced today.
     
  9. YCashMoney42

    YCashMoney42 Member

    Sep 21, 2004
    Seoul
    Lee Chun Soo is a totally different player right now, matter fact he could be one of our super subs next year during world cup... I know lot of people dont like him because he talks this and that but I see good future for him.

    Like I said before though, Seol Ki Hyun and Park Ji Sung will be key players, especially Seol because Park Ji Sung will be no doubt fully covered by defense. While Seol can isolate himself on the left and put up some dangerous crosses
     
  10. toohyper

    toohyper Member+

    Mar 23, 2004
    MI/NJ/NY
    Club:
    Gwangju FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Korea Republic
    Seol's way too inconsistent though. Not sure if he's really dependable at this point.

    I personally hope Ahn Jung-Hwan never start and just be a super-sub. He's a waste of oxygen when he starts.
     
  11. YCashMoney42

    YCashMoney42 Member

    Sep 21, 2004
    Seoul
    Seol really changes our offense around tho, and he's pretty trustable with the ball on the left side even though he many put up the best crosses every time but I think he can break some defense down.
    He's got the size and doesnt lack much speed, I rather have him trying to feed the ball than trying to score. Seol is probabaly the last player I personally expect to score on our NT.

    Ahn is probabaly more inconsistent than Seol but you know when Ahn feels good, he is unstoppable
     
  12. AminKor02

    AminKor02 New Member

    Jun 20, 2002
    Uzbekistan. I knew it started with a "U". :eek: . Beat them in Seoul but struggled in Tashkent. I think they scored near the end of the game to tie.

    Hope Lee Chun-soo does well, but I must be one of those who are turned off by his attitude...
     
  13. toohyper

    toohyper Member+

    Mar 23, 2004
    MI/NJ/NY
    Club:
    Gwangju FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Korea Republic
    Oh by the way, for those foreign Lee Chun-Soo haters..

    Lee Chun-Soo won the MVP award this year in K-League. Very impressive for a guy who came back to Korea in the 2nd half of the season.
     
  14. AminKor02

    AminKor02 New Member

    Jun 20, 2002
    you could probably count foreign Lee Chun-Soo haters on one hand. Most people probably don't pay much attention to him. How many non-Koreans watch K-league outside of Korea?

    Like I said, I hope he does well -- in other words, I hope he's grown up.
     
  15. toohyper

    toohyper Member+

    Mar 23, 2004
    MI/NJ/NY
    Club:
    Gwangju FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Korea Republic
    How many non-Koreans watch the K-League outside of Korea? Koreans in Korea doesn't even watch the K-League, nonetheless the Non-koreans outside the country.
     
  16. AminKor02

    AminKor02 New Member

    Jun 20, 2002
    Actually, an American friend of mine used to watch K-league when he was in Japan. I thought after the '02 success, Koreans would start following it more closely, but every time I see it, the stands look more empty than an MLS match. Of course, some teams are trying to fill cavernous World Cup stadiums.

    My son follows the Blue Wings and has been to a couple of their games. I saw them play Shenzhen last year in what looked like an Asian club championship and they looked pretty flat.
     
  17. hanul21

    hanul21 Guest

    i got a friend of mine who's from Brazil interested in K-League two years ago. he got REALLY into Suwon Bluewings after i showed some clips of Nadson, i think he went with his dad to Korea and attended a Suwon Bluewings game, he brought back a jersey too
     
  18. toohyper

    toohyper Member+

    Mar 23, 2004
    MI/NJ/NY
    Club:
    Gwangju FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Korea Republic
    Well obviously i was making a joke when i said even the Koreans in Korea doesn't follow the K-League much.

    I think you have to put 1 thing in perspective. Reason why MLS matches have more attendance is because the population in general is much much bigger. And the K-League does a pretty bad job of scheduling some of this matches.

    I do believe Japan has coverage of the K-League and so does China and vice versa with the J-League. I currently live here in the states and a Korean channel does air 1 K-League match each week, and i also have to watch the K-league through the internet a lot of times. But of course, K-League doesn't have worldwide coverages.

    After the 2002 WC, the K-League did get a little more attendances but it only lasted very shortly.

    Suwon traditionally and i guess still is (Except they sucked this year) a powerhouse club in Korea. Shenzen is a really tough club from China. But was it ACC3 or Asian CHampions League? Because Korea beat Shenzen without any problems in ACC3 but definitley had a tough time in the ACL (Was probably the toughest group in the ACL too).
     
  19. AminKor02

    AminKor02 New Member

    Jun 20, 2002
    it was the ACL last May. Only a 1-0 match, but Suwon just didn't look good. It wasn't too much fun to watch. And now I'm seeing it posted that Lee Woon-jae is getting fat? I haven't had a chance to see him lately so maybe it's just someone joking. Who else can play goal for the National Team?

    I'll be back in Korea sometime in July and plan on getting to a few Bluewings matches. I spent most of my time there before watching baseball and went to quite a few Unicorns and Wyverns games (Inchon's stadium is a beautiful ballpark).
     
  20. COREANO

    COREANO Member

    Aug 10, 2005
    Nat'l Team:
    Korea Republic
    *Korea 2 - Iran 0

    lol sorry it was just bothering me
     
  21. toohyper

    toohyper Member+

    Mar 23, 2004
    MI/NJ/NY
    Club:
    Gwangju FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Korea Republic
    Actually, it's not a joke. Lee Woon-Jae is getting fatter. You can compare him right now (If you can find a pic) to when he was a reliable keeper for us in 2002 WC (And tip-top shape too). He's getting fat, that's no question. But still solid, not as reliable as 2002 form but he hasn't done anything wrong to lose his spot.

    Our 2nd string Keeper is Kim Young-Gwang (Plays for Chunnam Dragons) who was the starter of the Olympic U-23 squad and in terms of athletic/physical ability, Kim Young-Gwang has way more than Lee Woon-Jae ever did. But he hasn't gotten much chance because of Lee Woon-Jae.

    Haha, my bad. I just remembered the game to be a really bad showcase of football quality, but i knew we didn't lose that match. Just forgot that we won.
     
  22. fk51785

    fk51785 New Member

    Dec 7, 2005
    Florida
    I am also concerned about Korea's poor defense.
    I hope coach Advocat does something about that and improve the defense.
    About the goal keeper Lee WJ, well I know he gained weight and stuff,
    but I still believe he is the best goal keeper we got as of now.
    He has experiences from 2 World Cups and did very well last World Cup
    against teams like Spain, Portugal and Italy.
    For Forward spots, Korea has lots of options from players like
    Seol KH, Lee DG, Lee CS, Ahn JH, Cha DR and Park CY.
    For midfield, I hope Coach let Lee YP and LEE EY start.
     
  23. thetaylor310

    thetaylor310 Member

    Jul 30, 2004
    São Paulo-SP, BRASIL
    Club:
    Palmeiras Sao Paulo
    Nat'l Team:
    Brazil
    Well, as you know, we have "The General" Dick Advocaat (fmr Holland, Rangers, UAE coach) at the helm and with Pim Verbeek as his head coach. Verbeek held the same position for our KNT during the Hiddink era. Plus, we have Afshin Ghotbi also retaining his position as the head analyser from the Hiddink era

    One addition to the coaching roster is none other than our "Libero" Hong Myung-Bo, who was our KNT captain (famous for his penalty kick that knocked Spain out last WC and the Bronze Boot winner of the tourney)

    i don't know whether my esteemed Korean brothers may agree with me, but i think we've got a winning leadership team. Save for Advocaat, the others i have mentioned are well familiar with the team
     
  24. chadu

    chadu Member

    Apr 23, 2006
    korea weakness:
    strikers, no players to define and score goals!!! thats bad for a team that has speed, work, strenght
     
  25. Ludahai

    Ludahai New Member

    Jun 22, 2001
    Taichung, Taiwan
    Korea always seems to be fitter than the teams that they play. Best to be two up on them going into the 70th minute, or they will make your life miserable for the last twenty.

    However, they won't likely have the refs helping them win like they did against Italy (the wrong offside call by the Argentine assistant) and Spain (the disallowed goal AND the GK jumping off the line well before the shot on the PK save.)

    Still, should be an interesting group. Of the five AFC teams in the World Cup, I think they have the best chance of advancing - though group F has two AFC teams, so one may get through there.
     

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