Kim’s Injury Deepens Verbeek Woe
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
South Korean football coach Pim Verbeek had boldly predicted an Asian Cup crown for the country but an ever-expanding injury list could force him to eat his words.
Team captain Kim Nam-il became the latest addition to the list of catastrophes Tuesday with Suwon Samsung confirming that the midfielder will be out at least until July due to a hernia.
``We will set a date for Kim's surgery soon. We found that he had been playing in pain for quite some time and it would take at least a month before he can train again,'' said Oh Geun-young, a front office official for Suwon.
Kim's absence deals a heavy blow to Verbeek who already lost a number of starters _ including Premier League players Park Ji-sung, Seol Ki-hyeon and Lee Young-pyo _ to injuries.
Verbeek hoped that Kim, a holding midfielder highly regarded for his physical play and passing abilities, would provide a veteran presence among a young midfield lineup already missing its top playmaker in Park and wing-player in Seol.
With Kim out of the tournament, all eyes are on Seongnam Chunma prospect Kim Doo-hyeon, a talented but inexperienced midfielder Verbeek would preferably not rely on too much.
Lee Ho, a defensive midfielder for Zenith St. Petersburg, and Kim Jung-woo, playing for Japan's Nagoya Grampus Eight, are among the candidates penciled to start in the central midfield, although none of them are as talented or experienced as their ailing captain.
Jeonbuk Hyundai speedster Yeom Ki-hoon is likely to start in the place of Seol on the left flank, with Ulsan Hyundai attacker Lee Chun-soo manning the right flank. However, Seol's pace and strength, as well as his aerial presence inside the penalty box, would be hard to duplicate.
Hit by such tough luck, it is understandable that Verbeek opted to summon his players on the morning of June 23, forcing them to miss the K-League weekend matches on the same day, which irritated local clubs. However, the frustrated Dutch coach would rather not risk further injuries by allowing his players to play an extra league match.
The K-League sent an official complaint to the Korean Football Association (KFA) Tuesday, demanding that the national team be summoned on June 24, a day after Verbeek's current deadline.
``Under regulations, the Asian Cup squad could be summoned two weeks before the start of the tournament, which would be June 23 so we scheduled all of our weekend matches on that day to help Verbeek get his team earlier. However, Verbeek's decision to summon the team in the morning disallows players from participating in the league matches,'' said K-League president Kwak Jung-hwan, reflecting a communication problem between the league and the national team.
However, Lee Young-moo, who heads the KFA's technical committee, said that the association is not considering changing the summon date.
``Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, which are in the same group with us, had summoned their national teams two weeks ago. Host country Indonesia has already been training for eight weeks. We can't let chemistry become a problem for us,'' said Lee.
``One day could make a big difference. If we summon the players after the league match we lose a day, as the players would need rest. We have a friendly match on June 29 so we can't afford to start the training on June 25,'' he said.