Soccer: Korean Set to Deal Another Blow to Japan

Ahead of the playoffs in March for the Athens Olympics, the Korean Olympic team will start an Osaka expedition, spearheaded by Choi Tae-wook, 23 years old, of Inchon United and Choi Seong-kook, 21 years old, of Ulsan Hyundai.

Choi Tae-wook, set to play the right wing forward, is the Japanese getter, who scored with a 30-meter long shot in the team’s last game against Japan in Tokyo last July. In January he made a game-deciding score against Japan in the Qatar Invitational.

Choi Seong-kook, the right wing forward, is resolved to get even with Japan for the 1:2 loss in the FIFA World Youth Championship in December of last year. Fast feet and audacious breakthroughs are his trademarks.

The two Chois are resolute that they will resolve their grievances for being out-competed from the adult national team in front of its coach Humberto Coelho

In addition to the two Chois on the wings, Cho Jae-jin, of Suwon Samsung, will be at the forward to have an upper hand on Japan.

The offense line is a diamond-shaped four-by-four formation with Kim Doo-hyun, of Suwon, the invincible game breaker who will coordinate the attacks from the front. Kim Jeong-woo, of Ulsan, is in the back, and Park Kyu-seon of Ulsan and Choi In-kwon, of Anyang LG are on the right and the left.

Cho Byong-kook, of Suwon, who scored in the game against Lebanon will mark Hirayama Sota of Kunimi High School, the rising star of Japan.

The Japanese team, led by coach Yamamoto Masakuni, will position Hirayama and Danka as the two tops, plus Matsui in a triangle offense position.

Since 1990, the Korean Olympic team has posted four wins, one tie, and two losses against Japan, including one win and one tie last year.

Korea will start home-and-away playoffs for the Olympics with China, Iran and Malaysia, the first match being against China on March 3. There are three slots for Asia in the Olympics. Twelve countries will be divided into three divisions. The best team in each division will have a ticket to Athens.

Meanwhile, the Korean junior national team will have a chance to pay back the Japanese for its 1:2 loss in the second round of the FIFA championship on December 8.

The Korean and Japanese junior teams consist of new players who have replaced those who are over 20 years old. However, for coaches Park and Okuma Kiyoshi, the March game is a rematch. The Korean team, which lost to the Hubei province team of China 1:0 in the first game of the 2008 Stars Cup, wants to prey on the Japanese for its first victory.

The 2008 Stars Cup, which made up of by Korean, Japanese and Chinese junior teams and which took place in Wuhan of Hubei province, was aimed at testing each country’s build-up for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Jong-Koo Yang yjongk@donga.com