 South Korea's Park Chu-young reacts after the country was eliminated from the Beijing Olympic football tournament, despite a 1-0 win over Honduras in its Group B match in Shanghai Wednesday. / Yonhap |
Staff Reporter
South Korea's first win in the Olympic football tournament came a little too late as Park Sung-hwa's side failed to deliver on the manager's predictions of bringing home the country's first Olympic medal in the sport.
Kim Dong-jin's first-half strike proved as the winner in Korea's Group D finale against Honduras in Shanghai Wednesday as group leaders Italy and Cameroon, paying out to a scoreless draw, advanced to the knock out stages.
The performance of Park's squad has drawn particular attention because the players are likely to provide the core of the squad that will be sent to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa should the country qualify.
However, a 3-0 spanking in the hands of Italy, which followed with a 1-1 draw against Cameroon, effectively killed Korea's hopes.
Kim put his team ahead in the 23rd minute when he collected a pass in front of the box and calmly curled it to the left of leaping Honduras goalkeeper Obed Enamorado.
However, the Koreans failed to take further advantage of the lax defense of the South Americans, who had nothing to play for, with their occasional promptings producing nothing more than near misses.
Considering that the Koreans needed to hit the goal trail for any chance to advance out of the group phase, with Cameroon holding a massive four-point lead in goal difference, the inability to attack the Honduran defense with pace and purpose was disappointing.
``We were focused on scoring goals, and the players gave all they have got, but our scoring problems continue to hold us back," said Park.
``The gap in ability between us and Italy proved to be massive, and I think even us playing our best game wouldn't have made a difference," he said. ``It's regrettable that we failed to keep our promise.''
Korea has qualified for Olympic men's football six straight times, but has never gotten past the quarterfinals.
thkim@koreatimes.co.kr
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