Do Not Block Our Path

Head Coach Guus Hiddink revealed his anxiety about the lack of training of Seol Ki-Hyun (22, Anderlecht, Belgium) and An Jung-Hwan (25, Peruzia, Italy), when he announced the 7th Hiddink squad roster at the end of last month. It is because that they have usually kept the bench in their teams, despite they are the central figures of the national team who ought to play a role of `a point guard` for crashing the high wall of European soccer in the 2002 World Cup.

Were they really able to read the mind of Hiddink?

Seol Ki-Hyun and An Jung-Hwan have prepared for the evaluation games with Senegal and Croatia with a firm determination. Both are wanting to show the excellent performance to recover Hiddink`s trust in their mother country, and ultimately to take a starting position in their teams after returning to the European league with a regained confidence.

Seol Ki-Hyun had impressed Head Coach Hiddink with his indefatigable physical strength and excellent speed. But, since he made a very poor showing in the Confederation Cup and the national team lost 0-5 to the Czech Republic in August during the training camp in Europe, Seol has fell into a severe slump. Despite he made a goal in game with the Halmstadt of the Champions League on Aug. 9th with a impressing play, he had to almost keep the bench since his slump began all of sudden. The situation was almost the same after returning to the Belgian League.

Therefore, Seol should show something in this evaluation game. In particular, because the younger players such as Choi Tae-Wook (Anyang LG) and Lee Cheon-Soo (Korea University) are growing up very rapidly in the national team, he has to prove his superb value to Head Coach Hiddink, otherwise he may fall into a bench warmer.

An Jung-Hwan is also put in a similar situation. He had to keep the bench in four games among the recent five games, because of his teammate Cordova`s outstanding performance. He has been worn out only warming the bench. Hence, he is also wanting to set a new start for himself in front of the domestic fans who have always sent the warm support. Reminding the highlight moment when he made a first goal in game with Japan with a matured performance, An Jung-Hwan is now ready to get Hiddink`s trust back with a firm attitude, simultaneously proving his ability to his team Peruzia.

Both players could not have a time to tune themselves with other teammates since they joined the team late. Nevertheless, they will start in games with Croatia on 10th and 13th, as leading players for beating the European soccer.

bae2150@donga.com