Korea vows no more mistakes against Syria

The national team trains at the National Football Center in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Friday, ahead of its World Cup qualifying match against Syria, on Tuesday. / Yonhap

By John Duerden

So much attention in South Korea was placed on last week's 2018 World Cup qualifier against China in Seoul that it was almost forgotten that there is a match with Syria on Tuesday. This second Group A clash may not be as glamorous as the first against China but there are the same three points at stake.

The game with China finished in a 3-2 victory for Korea and another win will give Korea a perfect start for the final round of qualification. The six teams in Group A, which also includes Uzbekistan, Qatar and Iran, play each other home and away with the top two progressing automatically to the tournament in Russia in 2018.

Syria, who lost 1-0 to Uzbekistan in the opening game, presents an interesting test. Syria is unable to stage games at home for obvious security reasons. In the previous round of qualification, the country's temporary football home was in Oman.

For this stage, the base was supposed to be moved to Macau ― very convenient for China and pretty good for Korea too. Yet, last Thursday, it was revealed that Macau could not agree to terms with the Syrian Football Federation.

It looked as if this would have resulted in the game being played in Lebanon, something that did not go down well at the Korea Football Association. In the end, it was agreed that it will take place just outside the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, which is not a problem for Korea with relatively easy direct flights and a time difference of just one hour.

Korea is expected to win against Syria but the mood is not quite as good in the camp as it should be. The last 20 minutes against China almost overshadowed the victory.

It wasn't the best performance from the Taeguk Warriors but they scored one goal in the first half and in the second, two goals in quick succession from Lee Chung-yong and Koo Ja-cheol, and the game looked to be over.

China was beaten while the Korean players were enjoying themselves and wondering if they could get another goal or two. A convincing 4-0 or 5-0 win would really have sent a message to the rest of the group. As it was, defensive mistakes allowed China to score two quick goals, and in the end, coach Uli Stielike was relieved just to win.

Syria is a hard-working team with players active in leagues in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Lebanon, and the team is likely to defend and look to hit Korea on the counterattack. If Stielike and his players can reduce their defensive errors, they should make another three points.

"A single mistake can determine the result of the match,” said Stielike before leaving for Malaysia. “For the qualifiers in the final round, we must be wary of making mistakes."

"The result of past mistakes committed against teams such as Iran or China are different from the mistakes made against Myanmar or Laos," Stielike added.

Stielike will be without Son Heung-min. The Tottenham Hotspur attacker has returned to London in order to prepare for the English Premier League season. Seongnam striker Hwang Eui-jo is his replacement.

Even without Son, Korea should have enough to defeat Syria, take another three points and one more step to Russia.