Korea Takes on Syria in Asia Cup Match

Korea’s national soccer team will face Syria in a 2007 Asian Cup preliminary match on February 22 at 9:00 p.m., Korea time.

The top two teams in each of the six groups in the tourney will advance to the main round.

The upcoming match will be a wrap-up event for the members of the Korean national team, who have been competing with one another for starting jobs for the past few weeks.

Syria, which is ranked 95th in the world by FIFA, has an overall record of one win and one loss against Korea (ranked 31st in the world by FIFA). The last match played between the two countries was 22 years ago at the 1984 Asian Cup. Korea lost, 0-1. Korea notched a 2-0 win against Syria at the 1978 Merdeka Cup.

Syria failed to advance to the main round of 2006 Germany World Cup, but it defeated Bahrain, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia in recent evaluation matches among Arab nations. Syria made the top four at the 2004 Asia Youth Championships, and the top 16 at the 2005 World Youth Championships.

Syria is led by Serbian coach Milosav Radenovic.

Korea’s manager, Dick Advocaat, announced that he will stick to a four-back defense for the upcoming match against Syria. Team Korea will likely employ its usual 4-3-3 formation against Syria’s 4-5-1. Korea’s forward assignments will be Lee Dong-guk at center, Park Ju-young on the left, and Lee Chun-su on the right. Lee Dong-guk has been particularly strong in Middle Eastern matches: nine out of his 22 international match goals came against Middle Eastern countries.

Kim Nam-il, Yi Ho, and Kim Du-hyeon are likely to take midfield responsibilities since Baek Ji-hun, Kim Du-hyeon’s alternative, is not 100 percent. Kim Dong-jin, Kim Jin-gyu, Choi Jin-cheol, and Jo Won-hee are again expected to form the team’s four-back defense line.

Won-Hong Lee bluesky@donga.com