“I Found Weaknesses of Poland, Portugal, And U.S.A.”

Coach Guus Hiddink said, “I emphasized to the players that the World Cup is not about participating, but about fighting strong teams and needing whatever it takes to fight them on equal level. They did follow me well, and nearly reached what I aimed for.”

Hiddink, especially, was content with the fact that Hong Myeong-Bo (Pohang Steelers) returned to the team after a long time to add stability in the defense line, but reserved his judgment upon Yoon Jung-Hwan (Cerezo Osaka). The problem is that Yoon has good techniques, but is slow and wild. However, he showed efforts to overcome the weaknesses during the European field training, increasing possibility for his entry in the team.

“Poland and Portugal unexpectedly lost in recent evaluation matches, but it is wrong for us to conclude that we can also win them at ease. While Japanese and Finnish players showed some active spirit, Polish and Portuguese players lacked in determination. We can’t say we are able to win over Portugal because it lost to Finland, which we beat by 2-0. Soccer is not something that can be calculated.”

So far, Hiddink is known to have focused on collecting information about Portugal, Poland, and U.S.A., which are in the same World Cup group with Korea.

He described, “If the U.S. and Poland are similar in style, Portugal is another type. We are going to focus on strategic training that is prepared against each rival, and especially strive to maximize the players’ speed and stamina and reduce recovery time through power-program.”

“I’ll form a team for the future of Korean soccer. Young players will be given chances to grow by joining them in the team,” said Hiddink about the formation of the national team in the evaluation match with Costa Rica on the 20th.

Considering that it would be difficult for foreign-based players to join, the plan is to include some players from the Olympic team or the national youth team in the team formation.

The Korean national team is to be called up in Deagu on the 12th, and will begin preparing for the matches with Costa Rica (20th. Daegu) and China (27th. Incheon).

Jong-Koo Yang yjongk@donga.com