Olympic Soccer Team Smiles at Last

Korea’s Olympic Soccer Team became active again, earning a goal to break its long-term silence.

They beat Korea University 3-0 in Seoul’s World-Cup Stadium on February 28 to make goals at long last. Striker Jo Jae-jin (Suwon) gained two goals and a defender, Park Yong-ho (Anyang), added one.

Coach Kim Ho-gon said, “I have been worried, but the goals gave players a confidence,” and added, “Two goals in the set play was outstanding.”

Kim also said, “I ordered them accurate passs, counter attacks and strong pressure, and they followed them well,” to imply that their teamwork has improved.

Lately, the Olympic team has showed an extreme weakness in its attacking lines, culminating in a crushing defeat against Japan 0-2 on 21th, and no score against Yonsei University on the 26th.

Taking on China in the first game of the 2004 Athens Olympic Asia final preliminary on March 3, the Olympic team trained for recovery in Paju’s National Football Training Center (The NFC) on the 29th, and Park Dong-seok (Anyang) joined to substitute a goalie Kim Ji-hyuk who suffered a back injury.

Soon-Il Kwon stt77@donga.com