Warming Up For South Africa

Wednesday March 10, 2010
By A Correspondent

Roy Hodgson, Sven-Goran, Brian Kidd and Mick McCarthy all have in common?

Answer: They all spent last Wednesday afternoon surrounded by incredibly excitable South Korea supporters with a tendency to scream at the merest hint of an opening for their team.

The event was a pre-World Cup friendly between the Taeguk Warriors and Cote d’Ivoire at Loftus Road, the home of Queens Park Rangers located, appropriately enough, on South Africa Road in west London.

The logic behind the match, which kicked off at 1430 GMT for the convenience of Korean television, was that it gave both teams the opportunity to size up the sort of opponent they are likely to face this summer.

Cote d’Ivoire have been drawn against Brazil, Portugal and North Korea, while South Korea take on Argentina, Greece and Nigeria.

The theme was repeated across Europe on Wednesday, with a whole series of games between teams looking to familiarise themselves with playing styles they will encounter in South Africa.

I spoke to a few journalists from South Korea before the game, all of whom expressed concern at the capability of their team to cope with the physical threat posed by their African opponents.

Cote d’Ivoire, like Nigeria, clearly have a physicality the Koreans cannot match but coach Huh Jung-moo must be pleased with the way his team coped with the Elephants, even if their opponents are currently without a coach (although they have been linked with Guus Hiddink) and at something of a low ebb.

Manchester United midfielder Ji-Sung Park followed up his Carling Cup victory on Sunday by skippering South Korea on Wednesday.

And afterwards he said: “It is a good experience to play against African teams and because we have had a great result it is superb for our confidence.

“African players are individually very technical, strong and quick so we have to learn how to manage that - to do that we need to play as a unit and we did that against Ivory Coast.”

Dong-Gook Lee opened the scoring with a technically superb volley that was rarely if ever glimpsed during his spell at Middlesbrough, while Kwak Tae-hwi sealed victory with a superb glancing header on the stroke of full-time to complete a 2-0 win.

Park went on to talk about the importance of Koreans coming to play in Europe to gain valuable experience of playing week in, week out in high quality leagues.

The majority of the Koreans still play in Asia but four of their starting line-up at Loftus Road ply their trade in Europe.

Park added that if one of South Korea, North Korea or Japan qualified from the group stage at the World Cup it would represent a successful World Cup for Asian football.

As I reflected on South Korea’s performance at Loftus Road the thought occurred to me that with an inconsistency if talented Argentina, an ageing Nigeria and an uninspired Greece in their group they have a decent chance of progressing to the second round.

I am not exactly sure what the Ivorians can take from the fixture. On paper playing against South Korea with a view to their World Cup meeting against North Korea makes total sense.

Except that I am told that North Korea and South Korea are both extremely fit teams but have a totally different style of play.

As Park explained: “North Korea play defensively and it is not easy to beat them. They like to stay in their half and then counter-attack.”

South Korea, in contrast, play at a high tempo and against the Ivorians looked to hit telling final balls to get in behind their opponents’ defence.

Cote d’Ivoire had the disinterested look of a team short of confidence. It was one of those afternoons when Didier Drogba, normally a talismanic figure in orange, was largely anonymous.

It must have pleased club manager Ancelotti as he watched from the stands but it might just be that the Elephants are in need of the considerable skills of the Italian’s predecessor at Chelsea.

Drogba is apparently keen for Hiddink to take over on a short-term basis and Ivorian football association chief Jacques Anouma told me on Wednesday (via the help of a translator) that talks have taken place with the Dutch coach.

The 63-year-old has signed a contract to coach Turkey from August but having taken the Netherlands, South Korea and Australia to previous World Cups, I would not rule against him leading the Elephants in South Africa.

If he does he will certainly have his work cut out.

Their quarter-final exit at the Africa Cup of Nations was regarded as a failure and cost Vahid Halilhodzic his job, while Anouma grew visibly irritated when he explained how a succession of coaches have failed to harness the full potential of such a talented group of players.

Certainly, the Cote d’Ivoire have real quality in the likes of Drogba, Yaya and Kolo Toure, Salomon Kalou, Dindane Aruna and Bakary Kone but they were error-strewn against Korea and rarely showed any attacking fluency.

They are in a very tough group at the World Cup and will require the organisation and confidence that a coach like Hiddink can give them if they are to qualify.

I certainly don’t think that Brazil coach Dunga will have seen too much to cause him sleepless nights between now and his team’s meeting with the Elephants on June 20.

I suspect that the Brazilian television crew I saw were reporting back as much, as they broadcast from pitchside shortly after the final whistle.

A Brazilian TV crew (presenter looking somewhat chilly) reporting from London on a match between an Asian side and an African team - it must surely be a sign that the World Cup is almost upon us.

And when the action starts for real we will find out if valuable lessons have been learnt from the pre-tournament friendlies. — BBC

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