Keeping Messi at bay is key for Korea

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Sports

Hangzhou Asian Games

Wed, December 6, 2023 | 00:58

Keeping Messi at bay is key for Korea

Posted : 2010-06-15 19:21

Updated : 2010-06-15 19:21

By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff reporter

Despite the controversy surrounding the leadership of coach Diego Maradona, Argentina is one of the irrefutable favorites to win the World Cup. And in the center of that spotlight is Lionel Messi, arguably the best footballer in the world at the moment.

With the qualifying berths in Group B still wide open, South Korea will hope to get something from its second group stage match against the South American powerhouse. And inevitably, the first and foremost mission is likely to be to minimize the threat from Messi.

Aiming to make its first overseas knockout round, South Korea got off to a flying start with Saturday's opening win against Greece. Messi didn't score in Argentina's first match against Nigeria, but the Barcelona striker intimidated his markers for most of the game in incessant attacks.

Playing the entire 90 minutes, Messi covered some 8.4 kilometers on the pitch, in contrast to the distance of a little over 10km covered by the South Koreans against Greece. His skilled movement was impressive enough to make up for the eight shots he had in the game, with just four on target.

Past experience has proved it is not an effective tactic to assign one player to mark Messi, raising the need of a combined defensive effort to shackle the forward.

A classic answer to that assignment was presented in the Champions League semifinals between Inter Milan and Barcelona.

Then Inter manager Jose Mourinho, now at Real Madrid, made the best of the club's midfield to deny Messi space from the beginning in an organized defense around him in attempts to keep him away from his attacking routes.

They also put pressure on Xavi, Barcelona's playmaker, with winger Wesley Sneijder, as well as forwards Samuel Eto'o and Diego Milito actively adding to the zonal defense move.

The same example needs to be applied by the Taeguk Warriors, experts say. The center of the team _ holding midfielders Kim Jung-woo and Ki Sung-yueng as well as central defender Lee Jung-soo _ will have to work well together.

They will also have to ensure other creative forces are kept under control. Players like Carlos Tevez, Angel di Maria and Javier Mascherano can deliver sharp through balls to their top scorer from the rear and the flanks.

Nearly 80 percent of through balls by Messi were correctly delivered to his teammates, implying it could be more efficient to focus on the ball suppliers to Messi.

Against Nigeria, Argentina employed a 4-3-3 formation to put more weight on its attacker spearheaded by Messi but it didn't lead to a satisfying outcome. It is possible they will try using more midfielders in the Korean game.

If that happens, the roles of Park Ji-sung and Lee Young-pyo on the left flank will be also much bigger as Messi prefers to play on the right.

Park has had past successes in dealing with Messi with Manchester United. In the two-leg Champions League semifinal matches in April 2008, Park paired with French defender Patrice Evra to frustrate the dangerous Argentinean.

It has been stressed that simply warding off Messi does not make facing the other Argentinean an easier prospect, and the Koreans appear to be well aware of it.

"Messi is not the only top-notch player in Argentina. All of the team members are the best," veteran defender Lee Young-pyo told reporters Monday. "I know we have less chance of winning over Argentina, but we can still compete on an equal basis."

hckim@koreatimes.co.kr