Football coach asks players to stay focused on final despite persistent operational issues
South Korea head coach Lee Min-sung reacts to a play during his team's semifinal match against China in the men's football tournament of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan, Wednesday. Yonhap
On the eve of the Asian Games men's football gold medal match against the host country Japan, South Korea head coach Lee Min-sung said Friday he will try to keep the team's focus on the task at hand without getting sidetracked by other issues.
South Korea will try to win their fourth straight gold medal when they face Japan at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Toyota Stadium in Toyota, some 40 kilometers east of the main host city, Nagoya.
"We have been working together for about a year and a half for this one match," Lee said at his prematch press conference at the venue for the final. "I will do my best to bring all the players together and win the gold medal that we have set out to win."
Lee's team has had to deal with a number of operational issues since the start of the tournament. Lee had his pretournament press conference delayed last month when an official vehicle did not show up at the team hotel. For South Korea's opening group stage match against Qatar, the shuttle drivers for both teams took them to a nearby baseball stadium, instead of the football venue in Nagoya, and the players made it to the proper stadium barely in time to get their warm-ups.
Then on Friday, an official training session at Toyota Stadium was scrapped due to pitch problems.
And according to a national team official, South Korea had asked the organizing committee to switch their training venue from Toyota City Sports Park in Toyota, citing poor field conditions, but the request was rejected.
"Things like this can happen because we are a visiting team and we have experienced problems from the beginning," Lee said. "But we have to overcome them. We should pay no mind to these issues and just prepare ourselves the best we can for the match."
South Korea won both of their group matches, before eliminating Vietnam and China in the knockout stage to set up a date with Japan.
"We have not had an easy match and the final will be no different," Lee said. "I expect to see a lot of Japanese supporters but the key for our players is to keep their composure and just play our game."
Lee said his captain and midfielder Lee Gi-hyuk remained a question mark for the final due to foot inflammation and he wanted to check the player's condition once again later Friday.
Lee Gi-hyuk, who missed the semifinals against China on Wednesday, said he should be ready to go Saturday.
"I had some swelling in my foot but if I focus on recovery, I will not have a major problem playing in the gold medal match," he said in a video clip shared by the Korea Football Association. "I felt bad about sitting out the semifinal match. We all know how important it is to win the gold medal here and that is all we are thinking about. If I set a good example on the field, then I am confident my teammates will follow the lead."