.jpg) South Korean forward Ji Dong-won, second from left, celebrates with his teammates after scoring the team’s first goal in a 2-1 win over Ghana in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, Tuesday. Ji showed his ability as a left-winger in a 4-1-4-1 formation. / Yonhap |
By Yoon Chul
South Korea found success against two football powerhouses ahead of qualifying matches for the 2014 World Cup, starting in September.
The team will have one more friendly against Japan in August, but it will only feature players from the domestic and Japanese leagues.
Korean national team manager Cho Kwang-rae was satisfied with the two 2-1 victories against Ghana and Serbia, ranked 15th and 16th in the FIFA standings, respectively.
“I think the players gained the confidence that they could adapt to various tactics during the game,” Cho said after the game, Tuesday.
Park Chu-young of AS Monaco led the attack supported by Bolton Wanderers’ Lee Chung-yong and Chunnam Dragons’ Ji Dong-won.
The top three tried to dominate the middle through better ball possession in the midfield and it worked.
Short passing in the middle of the pitch easily paved the way to penetrate into the visitors’ territory.
Celtic midfielder Ki Sung-yueng’s long passes also threatened.
Netting twice each outing against higher-ranked nations, Cho’s side seems to have improved offensively, but it is too early to get carried away.
Korean footballers need to be more decisive to either shoot or a pass in their opponent’s area. There were some great shooting chances but the players took too many touches and as a result were tackled by defenders.
Ji, a strong candidate to fill the spot left by former national team captain, Park Ji-sung of Manchester United, was an attacking threat, especially in the air.
His header provided the first goal against Ghana and the second started from another Ji’s header. Aerially he is superior to former captain Park.
But his movement isn’t nearly as good and his touch needs to be better.
“I need to improve my passing play, I am not satisfied with it,” Ji said.
Problems still exist at the back.
Ghanaian forward Asamoah Gyan and midfielder Sulley Muntari were left too much space by the center backs and finally made the defense pay for this.
“Our line wasn’t stable, their speed and power overwhelmed us,” Korean defender Lee Jung-soo, who led the line in the World Cup in 2010, said after the match against Ghana.
“We need to improve to move the line up to pressure more. If we don’t go up we allow space for the attackers to move into,” added Lee.
But Cho had a different view saying, “Ghana is the best African team.”
“If we find balance in the back four it will be better. The issue of the back line is not that a big concern.”
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