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Korean Soccer Team Falls to Columbia In Friendly Match, One-Two

Korean Soccer Team Falls to Columbia In Friendly Match, One-Two

Posted January. 16, 2005 22:09,   

한국어

It was a match that left lot of regrets behind, though everyone knew that the focus of the game was on not winning, but excavating hidden pearls from a new pool of players.

In a friendly match held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in California, on Sunday, the Korean national team was beaten by the Columbian team by one-two. The Korean head coach, Jo Bonfrere, gave chances to many rookie players like Kim Dong-hun, Namkung Do, Kim Jung-woo, and Oh Beom-suk, to fight off a strong team from South America, but were not able to hold on to an early lead.

The Korean team first opened the net when Chung Kyung-ho connected on a corner kick from the left side by Kim Dong-jin into the goal with only three minutes into the game. However, the Korean team allowed a penalty kick to the Columbian team at 42 minutes in the first half, and Columbian Jaime Castrillon did not miss his chance. In the 31st minute in the second half, Columbia’s Edixon Perea intercepted an attempted pass by Kim Jin-gyu and scored a game-winning goal. With this game, Korea’s all time record against Columbia is now 1 win, 1 loss, and 2 draws.

Even though young players from the Korean League, vying for spots in the national team, played with tremendous spirit, they were hindered by inexperience and showed flaws in their organizational capabilities. Their physical stamina ran out early, which led to lapses of concentration and passing errors.

“The first five minutes were good. However, our team lacked composure and concentration, and the team`s play was not stable,” Bonfrere said. “Allowing the tiebreaker at the cost of a crucial defensive error was painful,” he added. It was a great chance for young players who lacked on-field experience.

“Rookie players, namely midfielders Chung Kyung-ho, Kim Dong-jin, and Oh Beom-suk, and offensive players like Kim Dong-hun and Namkung Do, played well,” said Kang Shin-woo, chairman of the Committe For Youth Affairs in the Korea Football Association (KFA). “The problem was our organizational capabilities in our defensive zone that were stretched in our three-back formula,” Kang pointed out.



Soon-Il Kwon stt77@donga.com