Korea Advances in Teen Soccer Tourney

A football team comprised of Korean middle school students made up for the Korean National team’s loss to Switzerland in the World Cup Games after defeating the Swiss and reaching the last 16 stage in the Adidas Challenge tournament, sponsored by FIFA World Cup partner Adidas.

Adidas Korea announced yesterday that Kyungsoo Club, a team of six football enthusiasts from Yunmu Middle School in Suwon, Gyeonggi, sealed top spot of their group and a place in the last 16 after a string of victories over Norway, Mexico, and Switzerland.

The global finals of the Adidas Challenge tournament are held in a purpose-built stadium in the grounds of Berlin’s famous Reichstag building, where the teams play in each of the five a-side, three a-side, and one-on-one games, with the winning team decided on the overall sum of earned points. 68 teams from 38 countries have battled it out in the group stages, and the 16 teams that make it through will compete for the championship starting from July 5.

On the other hand, it has been reported that German defensive midfielder Torsten Frings will be missing from the semi-final line-up against Italy on July 5, after it was discovered he was involved in the brawl that followed Germany’s quarterfinal win over Argentina last Saturday. FIFA announced Tuesday that it will “issue a two-match ban and a CHF 5,000 (around 3.86 million won) fine for Frings, based upon the findings of the disciplinary committee.”

However, as the committee sees Frings’ actions to be provoked by his Argentine counterpart, the ban for the second match will be suspended for six months.

Seung-Kun Lee why@donga.com