“We Will Cross over European Wallwith Young Blood“

What would be the best scenario for the group organizing of the World Cup final league from the perspective of Guus Hiddink, Director of Korean Soccer Team?

The answer is "It doesn`t matter." Mr. Hiddink strongly recommended "not to jinx about the European teams any more."

The reason why he tries to control the `Euro-phobia` of Korea is because of his experience at a Korea-Norway game during the Carlsberg Cup Competition, Hong Kong, in January. "While Korean soccer players were heading toward their bench from locker room, they were already frightened by the Norwegian players. So, they shrank back too much immobilizing them show off their own skills and naturally had lost the game." Mr. Hiddink said. He thinks that the result is already determined if the players get nervous too much.

For the future of Korean soccer, Director Hiddink commented, "it is rather bright." mentioning Song Jong-Guk, Lee Cheon-Su, Choi Tae-Wuk. He asserted that [the Korean Soccer team] has successfully broken the European jinx with the brave new players and that was proved by the recent two evaluation games with Croatia.

He also added, "if [Korea] tries to avoid European teams, it will weaken the morale of the Korean Soccer team and also will delay the development of Korean soccer. To overcome this situation, Korean players rather have to do their best to win a good record in the games with the European teams."

He is planning to cross over the European wall by mobilizing young players who had no experience of game with European teams and therefore no jinx as well.

Keuk-In Bae bae2150@donga.com