World Cup Plaza

○ According to an opinion poll on netizens, 54.8 percent of the people have trust in Guus Hiddink, the head coach of Korean national soccer team.

Among 3,670 participants of the poll, 2,010 people, or 54.8 percent, said that, “I put confidence in Hiddink,” responding to a poll, which was conducted by the `Best 11,` a monthly soccer magazine, from March 7th to 21st. 29.8 percent of the people supported him for his incitement of competitions for the `best 11` positions, and 23.8 percent of the netizens positively evaluated him for the stabilization of the team power.

On the other hand, among the people who distrusted Hiddink, 31 percent of them pointed out frequent position changes.

○ The Turkish national soccer team played with a `Fevernova` ball, the official football of the World Cup, through a physical game against Korean national team. It was Turkish team`s first experience of playing with the ball, and the Turks complained about the ball. “The speed of the ball was too fast, and it was really hard to play with it.”

Turkish coach Senol Gunes said, “Nobody can play with this ball.” Hakan Sukur, striker of the Turkish team, complained that, “It was hard to control and slipped from a foot.”

○ Robert Pires (Arsenal), injured midfielder of the French national soccer team, finally decided not to play at World Cup finals.

Damaging cruciate ligaments in last week`s the FA Cup quarter-final, Pires said, “The World Cup is dead for me. I have decided to wait two or three weeks to see if I need an operation,” in an interview with L`Equipe newspaper.

stt77@donga.com