Olympic team to face 2nd-placed Oman
By Cho Mu-hyun
The Olympic football team, aiming at making a seventh consecutive appearance at the Summer Games, will face Oman today.
The crucial match will kick off at 11:30 p.m. (KST) in Muscat, Oman.
Korea is leading qualifying Group A on eight points followed by Oman on seven, Qatar on three and Saudi Arabia with two.
A win will earn them a place in London regardless of the result of the final qualifier, at home against Qatar in March.
A draw would require the Under-23s to win against Qatar to ensure an Olympic place, while a loss would see the team need to beat Qatar and rely on a favorable result from Saudi Arabia when they play Oman.
If Korea ends up in second in the group, they will join the other runners-up in a round-robin playoff, the winner of which will then take on Senegal to secure a spot in the Summer Games, something that manager Hong Myung-bo has repeatedly stated he wishes to avoid.
The squad arrived at Muscat International Airport on Sunday after a training session in Dubai.
“The match against Oman is important to enter the main Games so we will put everything into winning,” said Hong. “We focused on recovering our fitness in Dubai.
“We had some difficulty in the fourth (qualifying) match against Saudi Arabia but the players performances weren’t bad. Unlike the Saudi outing, we have no injured players this time so I am very positive,” he added.
Team captain Hong Jeong-ho, who missed the training session at Paju National Football Center on Feb. 14 due to fatigue from the previous game, summed up the determination of the squad, saying “we came to win and it is a game we must win.”
Though the team remains unbeaten, they have never won in a Middle Eastern outing in this Olympic campaign. The Saudi Arabia fixture on Feb. 5 was especially tricky, with the players struggling and the 42-year-old manager admitted his side almost lost, saved by Kim Bo-kyung’s injury time equalizer.
After the training session on Monday, the manager revealed that they have focused on “pressuring the other side” and “adapting to their positions.”
He went on to say: “Considering the current mood of the Oman national team and the match setting, I think it will be difficult for us to win if we concede the first goal. I have repeatedly told the players not to allow the first goal.”
Though the final formation will only be revealed on the match day, the manager is known to have decided on his starting line-up, which will be 4-3-2-1.
Cerezo Osaka’s Kim Hyung-sung, who scored two goals at the King’s Cup in Thailand, and Gwangju’s Kim Dong-sub, are the two strongest candidates to play up front. Saudi hero Kim Bo-kyung and Nam Tae-hee of Qatari club Lekhwiya, who have been called up to the Olympic squad for the first time, are likely to be deployed on the wings.
Hong has faith in the 19-year-old Nam and spoke of his intention of using him in a key roles saying: “He can handle any attacking position. He is very clever and understands his own play well. If I select him, other players will have to adapt to his game.”