Posted December. 03, 2001 10:25,
`Knowing is power.`
The head coaches of Korea, Portugal, Poland and the USA, which belong to the D-group, have been uniformly reluctant to express their own evaluation about the opponent teams after the full draw for the 2002 World Cup finals.
Those head coaches are internationally well-known soccer leaders with remarkable careers.
Head Coach Guus Hiddink is a great commander who had led his Nederland team to the quarterfinal in the 1998 France World Cup. Antonio Oliveira, a coach of Portugal which is one of winning candidates, is also a great leader who had led his FC Porto team to the title twice in the Portugal football league. The U.S.`s coach Bruce Arena has been evaluated as the most successful coach in the U.S.`s soccer history with the two victories in the U.S.`s major soccer league, and five victories in college league. Poland coach Jerzy Engel who has been famous for his `lucky raincoat` led the Poland team to advance to the finals for the first time since 1986.
However, it would be hard to completely grasp the abilities of the teams only with the careers and the styles of head coaches. So, people point out `the information hunt` that will be carried out among these four head coaches for six months until next year`s World Cup as a crucial variable to for the impacts on the game result.
At present, Korea and USA should get into the battle of the wits for the evaluation game to be held in Seoguipo, Cheju Island, on 9th. As U.S. Coach Arena said that we could come to know better each other through the friendly games, these games will be the best opportunities to evaluate the opponent`s ability. The problem is how many hidden cards each team will show in these unofficial games. The U.S. team will constitute the starting members excluding the players who are playing in European leagues, and the Korean team also plans to exclude the players currently participating in the European league.
Both head coaches are likely to be seriously concerned with the composition of starting members not to expose their teams` real power.
The evaluation game between Korea and Portugal that was scheduled for next March is not likely to be held, because it would yield only little benefit for the first round contenders would face each other just three months before the finals. Portugal coach Oliveira said, "The evaluation game might be cancelled as we will face Korea in the first round."
Moreover, since Portugal and USA never faced each other in 1992, and Poland and Portugal met just once in the 1986 Mexico World Cup, the information warfare is expected to be executed fiercely among four teams for the remaining period.