Footballers to fight against ups-and-downs jinx

South Korean men’s Olympic football team head coach Shin Tae-yong watches his players during a training session at a football field in Salvador, northeastern Brazil, Tuesday (local time), two days ahead of its first match against Fiji. / Yonhap

By Nam Hyun-woo

Four years ago, South Korea’s U-23 footballers won a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. The feat was unprecedented for a country defeated 0-12 by Sweden at the 1948 Games in London, but immensely raised expectations for Korea’s campaign at the 2016 Games, where many are taking winning a medal for granted.

For coach Shin Tae-yong, who finds his men pitted into fixtures which seem tougher than that of four years ago, this is coming as another ghost that he has to fight against.

In recent years, South Korea’s international football campaign has been showing a pattern ― reaping better-than-expected results in a tournament and then failing to follow through in the next edition of the tournament. The footballers were eliminated in the first round of the 2006 World Cup after making it into the final four in the 2002 World Cup; and ended up again underperforming in the 2014 edition after reaching the round of 16 in the 2010 World Cup.

The pattern continues on the Olympic stage. After group round eliminations in two consecutive Olympics in 1996 and 2000, the Koreans made it into the knockout stage at the 2004 Games, but suffered a group round elimination at the 2008 Games.

Should the pattern hold, Shin’s men are lapsing into a downturn this time and rougher sailing indeed awaits them compared to 2012.

In Rio, the Koreans will take on Fiji, Germany and Mexico in Group C. Starting with Fiji at 8 a.m. on Friday (KST), they will face Germany at 4 a.m. on Aug. 8, and take on Mexico at 4 a.m. on Aug. 11.

It is a tougher group to survive compared to the 2012 Games’ Group B ― South Korea, Mexico, Gabon and Switzerland. With no apparent favorite, the assessment on the group at that time was “no one knows what will happen,” and the Games ended with Mexico reaching the top podium and South Korea claiming the third spot.

This time, however, the Mexicans are stepping into the tournament as reigning champions and the Germans are still way too solid for Korea to easily overcome. For Shin, beating underdog Fiji by a large margin is a precondition to keep the quarterfinal within reach.

For the Rio Games, the Mexicans have come up with a squad filled with talented players from their domestic league. Though the squad is said to be not as strong as that of 2012, Oribe Peralta, who was Mexico’s top scorer in 2012 with four goals, will appear at the Rio Games as an overage reinforcement, while 20-year-old winger Hirving Lozano is already drawing keen attention among European leagues’ scouts. Wide predictions are they will survive until the final.

Despite being a powerhouse in international football, the Germans have not been showing their presence in Olympic football, with their best performance being the bronze-winning campaign at the 1988 Games in Seoul. In organizing the squad, coach Horst Hrubesch must have struggled to find players who could commit without interrupting professional leagues.

Despite the exceptions, the 18-man squad has some familiar names such as the Bender twins ― Lars and Sven ― who play for Bayer Leverkusen and Dortmund, respectively. Schalke 04’s 20-year-old attacking talent Max Meyer will also be in action to create havoc in the back line.

Rough sailing awaits the South Koreans even if they make it into the knockout stage. If they finish the group in first place, they will face no. 2 in Group D and a second-place finish will match them with the Group D winner.

The problem is that Group D is full of powerhouses. Though Portugal and Argentina will not have Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, the countries are still favorites full of talented players. The South Koreans tied 2-2 with Honduras in a June tune-up match. and Algeria lacks its star players such as Riyad Mahrez and Sofiane Feghouli, and chances are low that it can advance to the knockout stage.

To cope with the rough sailing, coach Shin opted to enhance firepower, calling up two overage attackers ― Tottenham attacker Son Heung-min and FC Porto striker Suk Hyun-jun. Along with K-League standouts Kwon Chang-hoon and Moon Chang-jin, Shin managed to organize a squad full of offensive players, but watchers say the squad is unbalanced.

Shin also said that he believes a strong defense allows a team to survive longer in a short tournament like the Olympics. Initially, Shin wanted to call up center back Hong Jung-ho, who was playing for FC Augsburg when he was looking for overage players.

However, the German club did not give permission and Shin turned his eyes to attackers to cover weaknesses in defense. Ironically, Hong transferred to China’s Jiangsu Suning after Shin gave up on him.

And the team’s defense is now up to how Shin utilizes another overage player, Jang Hyun-soo who plays center back, wing back and even defensive midfielder positions. In the final tune-up match against Sweden, Shin placed Jang in a defensive midfielder role, but he couldn’t prevent his side allowing two goals in the 3-2 victory.

“The team needs to be more tightly organized,” said Shin. “Since our defenders are less experienced, Jang should command the back line in front of them.”