Korea, Japan Vie for Third Spot
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
With its dreams for an Asian Cup trophy shattered by Iraq, South
Korea will look for the consolation prize of a third-place finish
against defending champions Japan in Jakarta this evening. The
winner of the match will be awarded with an automatic spot in the
next Asian Cup.
Tonight's match-up is what many Asian football fans had hoped and
expected for the final, which would have added another page to one
of the greatest regional rivalries in the sports world.
However, the Taeguk Warriors finally saw their luck run out against
a spirited Iraqi team, losing 4-3 on penalties, a deserving
conclusion to a streak of five, uninspiring performances that saw
the team score only three goals in that span.
Japan, which looked much more potent than their East Asian rivals,
had the misfortune of running into a football juggernaut in Saudi
Arabia in the semifinals.
For South Korean manager Pim Verbeek, who predicted a title ahead
of the tournament, it would be important for his players to show
they still have a pulse, with his future with the national team
hanging by a thread.
It's questionable whether the team could finally find its form,
which would still be a game too late.
With injuries wiping out nearly half of his starting lineup ahead
of the tournament _ including midfielders Park Ji-sung (Manchester
United), Lee Young-pyo (Tottenham), Seol Ki-hyeon (Reading) and Kim
Nam-il (Suwon Samsung) _ Verbeek opted for a defensive approach,
packing the midfield with five players to cover a four-back
defensive line while sending out a lone striker as the offensive
point-man.
It would be hard to qualify the 4-5-1, or 4-2-3-1 and whatever the
Korean press chose to call it, as a success.
Although the enlarged midfield allowed the Koreans to hold a larger
share of possession, and thus grind the game down to a slower pace
as they prefer, it clearly compromised the offense as goal-scoring
chances were rare with the target man finding himself isolated for
long stretches.
Verbeek's forwards had to be clinical with the sporadic chances
they got from the net, and they failed miserably. Middlesbrough
forward Lee Dong-gook, Asian Cup's second all-time scorer with 10
goals, played with an alarming lack of urgency that defied, or
perhaps explained, his deer-in-the-headlights expressions.
Shimizu S-Pulse forward Cho Jae-jin is proving once again that is
gifted with the body of a great striker but not the head.
It bears further watching whether Verbeek would try switching two a
4-4-2 for the Japan match to find an answer to the team's scoring
doubt, which would give him the opportunity to pair Lee or Cho with
Ulsan Hyundai winger Lee Chun-soo, who stepped up as perhaps
Korea's best player during this tournament with his relentless
attack on the right flank.
The two-man front would be a worthy experiment, especially with
defensive backs Kim Chi-woo and Oh Beom-seok displaying enough
skills and pace to support the attack in transition. The talents of
holding midfielders Kim Jung-woo and Son Dae-ho also suit better to
the defensive roles they would likely be assigned to under a 4-4-2
system.
However, Verbeek would be reluctant to play a transition game
against Japan, and compromise their share of possession with a
smaller midfield, considering the opponent's potent attack led by
the brilliance of star-striker Naohiro Takahara and playmaker
Shunsuke Nakamura.
