What Type of Goal Ceremony: Ring Kiss or Samba Dance?

The day has come. It is a fight between the two eternal rivals, or South Korea and Japan.

The two nations` national teams will take on each other in a friendly A-match at 7 p.m. today at the World Cup Stadium in Seoul. South Korean national team coach Coelho promised a gift of victory to South Korean fans and was quoted as saying, "Actually, we needed a little more time. But I think we could get over it. It depends on players. If they follow what I ask them to do, we will make a good game. We will show a wonderful game to our fans."

On the other hand, Japanese coach Zico also promised a victory and confidently said, "Korean players are really fast. We know it. Thus, we will concentrate on man-to-man defense. We may possibly take on the Korean team in the preliminaries for the 2006 Germany World Cup. This time, we will check our possibility."

The two teams warmed up for thirty minutes yesterday in the World Cup Stadium. Among South Korean players, Ahn Jung-hwan drew the media attention most, while Brazil-born naturalized Japanese soccer player Santos Alessandro stood out most among Japanese players.

On appearance, it is an A-match. In fact, however, it is a "friendly" match. Ahn and Alessandro, the two players who will lead attack for both teams, play for the same team, or S-Pulse in the J League. This season, each of them has scored one so far. In the Korea/Japan World Cup, each represented his country.

In S-Pulse, Alessandro takes the position of the left wing, while Ahn takes the same in opposite direction. But in today`s game, Ahn, as a center midfielder, joins the attack. On the other hand, Alessandro will buttress the waist of the Japanese team in the middle field. Both, however, are expected to assist goals with their wonderful passing ability and, sometimes, make shoots themselves toward the net. They also cut off any possible attack of the other on the front line.

Ahn diagnoses, "Japan has become weaker due to the absence of its players running in Europe. I will take an active role," implying Alessandro is not enough to check him down. Japanese coach Zico himself applauded Ahn as one of the greatest players, and marked him as the number one target to be checked.

Naturalized in 2001, Alessandro seems to hinge everything on this game. He said, "I will do my best. I have put my reputation on the game." He sounded determined to give a victory to his coach, who has come from his original motherland. Experts think that Alessandro can do whatever a "left-footer" can do on the left side. He is expected to do all the free kicks, requiring more precautions against set plays on the part of the Korean team. Last month, in a game against Uruguay, he assisted one goal. His ball command is also excellent enough to brush off Korean defenders in the box.

The South Korean team will set up a new formation of four-men defense line, while all the World Cup stars defend for Japan. Wondering how the two can penetrate the defense line of each other.

Sang-Ho Kim hyangsan@donga.com