Korea coach looking to polish up strategies with World Cup nearing

Hong Myung-bo, head coach of the Korean men's national football team, speaks at a press conference at Chivas Verde Valle in Zapopan, Mexico, Saturday (local time). Yonhap

With precious little time left to train before his team's first match at this year's FIFA World Cup, Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo said Saturday he will try to mold his squad into a more complete unit.

Korea had their first training session in Mexico, where they will play all three Group A matches, on Saturday. It was a "Community Training Session" organized by FIFA, with hundreds of fans gathered at Chivas Verde Valle in Zapopan, near Guadalajara.

The Taegeuk Warriors arrived in Mexico on Friday after undergoing about three weeks of altitude training in the U.S. state of Utah and playing two friendly matches there. They will open the World Cup on Thursday at Estadio Guadalajara against Czechia, better known as the Czech Republic.

The opening training session Saturday was not an intense one, and the real work will begin Sunday.

"After playing two matches, we analyzed our strengths and weaknesses," Hong said at a press conference held at the training facility. "The key is to polish up our strategies over the remaining days. And since weather conditions here are different than in Utah, we have to make adjustments in that aspect as well. There isn't enough time to do a lot of things, and so we have to focus on a few things."

Korea defeated Trinidad and Tobago 5-0 and then El Salvador 1-0 while using almost completely different starting lineups.

When asked if it wasn't too close to the World Cup to still be tinkering with his lineup, Hong said: "All of our players have an understanding of our model. We will settle on our combination and have intense training over the next three days."

On paper, Korea, at No. 25 in the latest FIFA rankings, will be favored over 41st-ranked Czechia. But Hong said the European side will not be a pushover.

"They have very distinct characteristics, and they will not be easy to handle," Hong said. "We have to be prepared, especially against their set pieces and crosses. We have to overcome our disadvantage in height."

Hong ran training sessions in the afternoon hours in Utah but said Saturday he may switch things up in Mexico and schedule workouts in the morning instead.

"We've been keeping close tabs on the weather here. Rain is forecast for almost every afternoon, and we had a ton of rain last night," Hong said. "I will talk to the players and determine if we'll train in the morning or afternoon."