South Korean football team to face off against Bahrain
South Korea's forward Son Heung-min controls the ball during the Russia 2018 World Cup Group F football match between South Korea and Mexico at the Rostov Arena in this file photo taken on June 23, 2018 / AFP-Yonhap
By John Duerden
The 2018 Asian Games kicks off for South Korea on Wednesday evening against Bahrain near the West Java city of Bandung. Like many big Indonesian cities, traffic can be a nightmare but if the Taegeuk Warriors can get a good start towards the final on September 1 then nobody will be worrying about traffic jams.
The big news is, of course, about Son Heung-min. The 26 year-old is the most famous of all the athletes who have flocked to Indonesia for the eagerly-awaited event of which men's soccer is just one. The Tottenham Hotspur forward made his 100th English Premier League appearance last Saturday, since signing with the London club in August 2015, against Newcastle United before arriving in Bandung on Monday afternoon, two days after his team-mates.
As has been reported numerous times, the reason why Son and the other big names, have been released from their European clubs is that a gold medal, a fine prize in its own right, comes with exemption from military service. If the young Taegeuk Warriors (17 of the 20-man roster are Under-23 with three overage players _ like Son _ allowed) can repeat its gold medal success of 2014 then these players can return to Europe and carry on with their club careers in the knowledge that they will not have to return home to play for the army team. Those players in the K-League will be equally delighted.
Most of the headlines have been about Son but that may just remove some of the pressure on the other players. The new captain of the team is however, unlikely to play against Bahrain thanks to the travel, the jet-lag and the general need for acclimatization to his new surroundings.
There is still plenty of talent with the starting eleven. Lee Seung-woo and Hwang Hee-chan both played at the World Cup in June and are both based in Europe, in Italy and Austria respectively. With Cho Hyun-woo, one of the best goalkeepers in Russia, between the goalposts and Kim Min-jae marshaling the defense, Korea should be able to get past Bahrain and then Malaysia on Friday and Kyrgyzstan next Monday and into the knockout round.
Coach Kim Hak-bom has stated that he will use a three-man defense and it remains to be seen whether he uses a four-man midfield and three-man forward line, or five in the middle and two in attack.
Bahrain is made up mostly of locally-based players who do not have the same level of experience as the Koreans do, whether at home or overseas. Bahrain Head coach Samir ben Chammam understands that his team is in for a difficult game against a team that it has yet to defeat in seven meetings at the U-23 level. “Korea is the champion and full of good players," he said. "We will have to be at our best but it will be good experience for our players and we all know that anything can happen in the first game.”
For Korea coach Kim Hak-bom it is important that the team gets off to a good start. “We have been preparing for this tournament and we know what we have to do. We need to play to our strengths and focus on our own game.”