A Question and Answer Session with Coach Kim Ho-gon

“I felt hopeless. We gave up too many goals from the beginning, and this made me embarrassed.”

Kim Ho-gon , 53, coach of the Korean Olympic Soccer team which made the quarterfinals with a dramatic draw against Mali, said, “We unexpectedly gave the first goal within the first six minutes of the game. Since then, the game remained unfavorable to our team. However, such difficulty was overcome when we started to play aggressively in the second half.”

In regard to a question that the Korean team could have played a more relaxed game since it would make the quarterfinals anyway even with a tie, Coach Kim raised his voice, saying, “I could not think about anything when we gave up three goals. Our team members collected their minds because the oldest player Ryu Sang-chul and I yelled harsh words to them during halftime, and only after that, were we able to achieve the hard-won draw.”

“Problems found in the previous three games were: our defense was not confident so they withdrew repeatedly, and our attackers were supposed to be lined in a triangle formation but instead were standing in a straight-line formation which allowed the opponent to defend us easily,” he analyzed.

“Starting from the quarterfinals, the games are tournaments in which a team will be dropped once it loses, so having strong stamina is important. I am confident that we will beat whoever our opponent will be since we have been performing physical training for over a year,” he said.

“It is fortunate that we continue to play here in Thessalonica which has better weather and facilities than Athens. I will make strategies for the quarterfinals by watching the Italy-Paraguay game in Group B,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press praised the team, saying, “The Korean players’ fighting spirit was impressive.” However, it added, “Both teams received boos from spectators from third-party countries when they played to a tie in the second half.”