“I am the Paraguay Killer”

“I will lead the van to defeat Paraguay.”

Preparing for the match against Paraguay at the second preliminary match of Group F of the 2003 World Youth Soccer Championship (under age 20), which will be held at 1:30 a.m. on December 3 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, coach Park Sung-hwa has ordered “Little Tageuk Warrior” Kim Dong-hyun, 19 years old and from Oita Trinita, to be in special command of scorching the defense.

Ulli Stielike, coach of Germany which was defeated by Korea 0-2 at the opening match, extolled Kim Dong-hyun to the skies saying, “No. 18 (Kim Dong-hyun’s uniform number) was the most outstanding player. Even though he didn’t score a goal, our midfield and defense line were perplexed with that player.” Ronaldo Chilavert, coach of Paraguay, appointed Kim Dong-hyun as the target for scrutinizing after watching Korea battle Germany and said, “If we do not defend No. 18, we would be in big trouble.”

According to the analysis, striker Kim Dong-hyun, is 187 cm tall and 85kg with a strong physique, stirred in every direction at the Korean front line and confused the German defense line to defeat the “Tank Squad.”

Kim Dong-hyun said, “I will surprise the world with a goal this time,” while preparing for the match against Paraguay. Kim, showing confidence, added, “Paraguay is less intense in physical struggles and looser defensively than Germany so I can score a goal.”

Kim was the key player in winning the Asian Championship last year. Due to his move to the Japan league, he didn’t attend many of the various evaluation matches this year, but he took the lead of Korea’s rising power with three decisive goals at the necessary time.

This championship is the chance to jump to the world stage. He went to the J-league after leaving Hanyang University which he had entered this year, but his pride has been hurt due to a lot of time warming the bench. He made a resolution to move onto Europe after taking the leading role and reaching the semi-finals.

It is Jung Jo-kook (Anyang LG) who will stir up the Paraguay defense line with Kim as another two-forward line attacker. Left wing Lee Ho-jin (Sungkyunkwan University), the hero with the winning goal at the match against Germany, is unlikely to play in the second match due to an injury in his left knee ligaments. Either Cho Won-hee (Gwangjoo Sangmu) or Nam Goong-woong (Suwon Samsung) will replace him.

Kim Chi-woo (Chungang University), who substituted at the match against Germany, will replace left defender Park Joo-sung (Suwon Samsung) to make the “four-back line” with Kim Chi-gon (Anyang LG), Kim Jin-kyu (South Jeolla Dragons) and Oh Bum-suk (Pohang Steelers). Goalkeeper Kim Young-gwang (South Jeolla Dragons) will attempt to lead his team to eight straight complete games (720 minutes) with no losses.

This is the chance to pay back 24 years of failure after the complete defeat by Paraguay of 0-3 at the first match of group round of the Kobe Championship in 1979. The Park Sung-hwa squad, which has three winning points, is dedicated to making sure it will advance to the round of 16 by defeating Paraguay and capturing six winning points.

Jong-Koo Yang yjongk@donga.com